Mass Effect: The Gift
by Eramis8
Summary: A Geth conspiracy, a missing past, and buried secrets unite Commander Shepard and the most unlikely group of allies in this cover of the Mass Effect trilogy. Will be as close to the game as possible. Please review, and comment. OC will be joining the crew, fair warning. (Completed)
1. Chapter 1

The Gift Chapter 1

The Honorata swung down to the icy surface and settled with a crunch of compacted snow. The airlock slowly opened and two Quarians walked out, weapons at the ready. Without a single word they advanced on the Geth outpost, wary of any patrols around the building. They flanked the nearby door and set to work. As they hack into the door, they start talking.

"Why would the Geth be here? They have never left the space around Rannoch since the Migrant Fleet left," the Quarian in the purple environmental suit whispered, her voice barely carrying to her companion.

"I'm not sure, but a facility of this size shouldn't have too many Geth anyways," The blue suited Quarian replied, then grunted as the door finally gave way to their hacking skills.

The two entered the outpost fully ready for confrontation. Instead, they found themselves in a large atrium with an active console near the only other door.

"It's heated in here." The blue Quarian acknowledged.

"This makes even less sense than the Geth being here or having such a small outpost, Keenah'Breizh." The purple Quarian explained, "Check the console for any possible information about this facility."

Keenah moved to the console and accessed it with ease as there were no security measures installed on the console.

"Keelah!" Keenah exclaimed as he read.

"What? What is it?" The female Quarian inquired.

"This place, it is a research facility. They have something they call the Gift locked in the next room and they have tons of encrypted experiment data on it. They also have another prisoner further back."

"Then we have to help them! How many Geth are here?"

"Only three, and this place even has special stealth systems. There is no way that we should have been able to pick up their signals."

"Standing here won't help us, the only way we'll get answers is if we go through this place and destroy those damned Geth."

With a nod of agreement, Keenah gathered the information from the console onto his omni-tool and shut off the console. The two then pulled out their weapons and advanced to the door. They could hear the synthetic noises of Geth behind the door. They made sure they were in position to attack, then activated the door. The Geth were standing around a large tube of green liquid, and turned to the open door. The Quarians gunned down the Geth before the two synthetics could even draw their weapons. They checked the Geth bodies to ensure they were dead, and then looked around the room.

Scanning tools and readouts covered three walls and the final wall had another door. A large medical table covered with surgical tools and implants was in the corner. The largest feature of the room was the tube of green liquid. The tube was large enough to hold a body and they could see a shadow in the liquid.

"Look for a release on the tube Keenah, there's something in there!" The female Quarian ordered, moving closer to the tube and trying to get a better view of whatever was in there. As Keenah searched, the shadow moved through the liquid and the female Quarian backed away as a human body floated into visibility. She backed away from the body. She had never seen a human up close before but she was surprised by this one.

She noticed it was covered with tubes and electrodes and scars filled the remaining space of the human's visible skin. The human appeared male, and had no hair besides the human's trademark eyebrows on its head. The human appeared to be almost of Pilgrimage age and seemed to be either dead or unconscious.

"I found the release!" Keenah's shout snapped her out of her reverie. The tube bubbled and started draining. The human sunk lower in the liquid as the tubes and electrodes retreated from his body and ascended up the tube and out of sight. When the liquid finally drained away, the tube opened and the human fell out and hit the floor with a liquidy thud. The Quarians approached fearing it was too late for the human. He gasped, rolling over to reveal sea-blue eyes filled with innocence.

"Th-Th-Th-Thank you." He said, before carefully standing up. The Quarians did not reply, their shock was so great. The human had spoken to them in perfect Khellish.

*************************ME: The Gift*******************************************

Getting up out of the remaining fluid was easy considering the high-grade boots and leg armor ensured he had a stable way to stand up. After standing up, he wiped his hands on his white shirt and extended his hand.

"Name's Brandon. I don't know who you guys are but you saved me from… whatever this place is. Come to think of it, I don't really remember much more than my name." He said, still speaking Khellish as he seemed eager to share.

"My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. This is Keenah'Breizh vas Honorata." She gestured to Keenah with her other hand as she carefully shook Brandon's extended hand. He stopped shaking her hand and then looked at it carefully.

"You have three fingers. What are you?" He said, looking up at her with a naked look of fear.

"I am a Quarian, and if we are asking questions then how do you know Khellish? And you said you don't remember anything?" She inquired, her hand slipping from his but her glowing eyes still focused on his from behind her visor.

"Quarian…Khellish… Khellish is the spoken language of the Quarians, a mammalian sentient species formerly native to the planet Rannoch. Oh, sorry I don't know what came over me." He smiled even as he apologized, sure he seemed quite the fool.

"Tali'Zorah, the doors are closed and unresponsive to any hacking!" Tali had forgotten that Keenah was in the room until he spoke up.

"I can open the other door. Watch" With total confidence Brandon walked up to the door opposite the one Tali and Keenah had entered through. He stopped within reach of the door and began to speak:

"Keelah Se'lai,

We mourn for days and places gone.

The Morning War gives way to evening,

And night gives way to Brightest Dawn!"

After he finished the recitation, the door opened and revealed a darkened room. Without a glance backward, Brandon stepped through and disappeared into the darkness. Tali looked at Keenah, then followed Brandon. Keenah waited a moment longer, then followed Tali.

Once all three were in the other room, the lights turned on, revealing a treasure trove of gear. Shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, weapon attachments, and much more covered the walls. On a table in the center of the room, the other half of Brandon's armor sat amongst other clutter. Tali and Keenah grabbed mods for their weapons while Brandon re-donned his armor. He stopped short of putting on his helmet, then grabbed two pistols, two shotguns, and an assault rifle that was painted the same as his armor. Brandon looked at the clutter as the two Quarians looted the room for everything it had. He grabbed a canvas bag and filled it with everything on the table, trusting that his instincts wouldn't fail him. With the canvas bag loaded, He slung it over his shoulder, ensuring it didn't block his access to his weapons.

He signaled the two Quarians by waving his pistol, then pulled on his helmet and left the room through yet another corridor. The trio stopped at an intersection when they heard more Geth around the corner.

"Keenah, I thought you said there was only one other Geth and some other prisoner." Tali whispered angrily, turning to Keenah so the sound wouldn't carry to the Geth.

"I don't know, that's what the console told me. Let's just destroy them and find this other prisoner." Keenah replied, indignant that he had been told off.

The trio then swung around the corner, weapons ready to deal with the possible threat.

*********************** ME: The Gift*******************************************

"Keelah!" they exclaimed at the impossible sight. At the end of the corridor was a cell, containing a clearly enraged Geth unit. They walked up to it and the Geth could only beat uselessly on the glass.

"Why would the Geth lock up one of their own?" Tali asked, confusion evident in her tone.

"I don't know, but I'm killing it," Brandon pulled his pistol up, aiming it at the lit "face" of the prisoner Geth.

"Wait!" Tali smacked down the gun, "I can get data off of it if I'm quick enough. Keenah, open the cell. Brandon, stand down."

The two grudgingly did as they were told. The Geth unit attacked as soon as the cell door opened. Tali disabled it and extracted its memory core. She activated her omni-tool, taking the data from the Geth hardware. They all listened as the data turned into audio. They listened, rapt with shock.

"Keenah, we have to go to Illium and let the authorities know about this. If we don't do something, this could only escalate." Tali said, panic clear in her tone.

"Okay, Tali. But what about him?" Keenah inquired, pointing to Brandon.

"I owe you both a life-debt for freeing me, so I will travel with you. Unless you guys plan on getting yourselves nearly killed, I'm going to be around for a while." Brandon replied, shrugging his shoulders.

The group left the facility and found a second ship had landed opposite the facility from the Honorata. They could see a small group departing from the other vessel. Brandon pulled out his assault rifle, aiming at the new group. Tali and Keenah waited, uncertain of the group's intentions. The group revealed themselves to be a turian and several humans. When the group saw the Quarians and Brandon they opened fire. Brandon returned fire as Tali and Keenah fled towards the Honorata. The humans fell, but the turian's shields were strong and he advanced, blasting through Brandon's shields. Brandon turned and finally fled to the Honorata. The ship left before the turian came close enough to damage the ship.

**************************** ME: The Gift **********************************************

Tali, Keenah, and Brandon sat around the Honorata's dining table, sorting through the canvas bag's contents. So far they had found: unlabeled food paste, random Geth parts, 20,000 credits in chits, a broken omni-tool, one universal translator that Brandon now wore, and an OSD filled with encrypted files on the Gift Project. They currently were trying to decrypt the OSD and had left the rest of the bag unsorted. So far they had unlocked four reports but their combined skills weren't enough to crack through the other's encryptions. They sat and read the four files:

 _Report 1: The Gift was received today. The first procedure done was an electrical biochemical cleanse of his brain, removing all memories, instincts, and other brain functions other than those required to keep his body physically running. His mind's capacity suffered no loss and is now ready for the next stage._

 _Report 485: The Gift was neurally implanted with an understanding of the Creators' language and culture. The Gift has responded well to the physical implants and is steadily progressing to readiness._

 _Report 956: Today the omni-tool was implanted in the Gift's left arm, allowing him to carry it discreetly and still have constant access to it. His training with it has shown him capable of nearly Creator level mastery of engineering and technology._

 _Report 3,729: The Gift has completed his final combat training, bringing an end to the Project. Tomorrow we implant the control chip and the Gift is completed._

"Keelah!" Tali exclaimed as she finished the final decrypted report, "That report was dated today. Any later and you might have been…" Her voice trailed off, melancholy weighing the three down.

"If these reports are true, I have absolutely no way to recover who I was. They didn't block or suppress my memories, they completely removed them. Those bosh'tets!" Brandon yelled, slamming his fist onto the table.

"It's okay Brandon. If the worst comes to pass, you may join us on the Migrant Fleet. It will take some convincing, but if the Geth reports are true, you might as well as be just another Quarian. Although you'll still have those weird extra fingers." Keenah rambled, his attempt at consoling the human failing.

"All I know is, the first thing I'm doing on Illium is eating. It feels like I haven't eaten inforever!" Brandon's light hearted comment carried their spirits out of sadness and let them rest easily as they left the table for their assigned quarters.


	2. Chapter 2

"Tali can I speak to you privately about something?" Keenah asked, his body language clearly angry to Tali.

"Sure Keenah." Tali replied, her tone cool. She followed him away her spot on the bridge and the nearby crew. They eventually reached an unoccupied berth near the engine room. Keenah quickly scanned the room to ensure they were alone, and then turned to Tali.

"I don't trust the human." Keenah deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What? Keenah, why? Ever since we found him, he's helped us. All he's been doing since we read the Geth report is read on his omni-tool."

"Exactly what I mean."

"I'm not seeing the connection there."

"You're too trusting Tali! Right now he's spying on us and the entire galaxy. Think for a minute, you read the same reports I did. They removed the mind of whoever he was before and made themselves a new person. One they filled with their technology! They could be controlling him right now through pre-planted messages and memories!"

"First off Keenah, they might have implanted him but you read that last report; they still needed one more day to install their control chip. Secondly, he's just…"

"Just what am I?" Brandon interjected with an unreadable tone, entering the room. He looked from Tali to Keenah and back again. Keenah cleared his throat, then looked away from him and looked at Tali.

"You're, well… you. You don't seem threatening or aggressive." Tali said, her eyes never leaving her feet.

"Thank you, I think. Anyways, I figured out two important things since I started using my omni-tool. First, I found a clue to my identity in the personal mail system. It had an account number and code for an asari bank on Illium, so I was going to ask if it was okay for me to investigate this lead."

"Of course you can. What is the other thing you learned?"

"That turian we left behind, his name is Jacobus and he's bad news. Apparently he's some kind of gun-for-hire that specializes in artifact retrieval and elimination of third-party investigators."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Keenah spoke up, now paying full attention.

"Meaning that he is going to be trying to kill us for being in the general area of him. When we get to Illium, we are going to need to be quick. I'm better off alone because then if he shows up, he won't be hunting for you two immediately. Me, however, he's going to be searching high and low for, so you two should stay together and keep your barriers activated, okay?"

"Understood." Tali replied. She looked at Keenah, who grudgingly nodded.

"We are fifteen minutes from Illium, Captain." A crew member announced over the intercom.

"You heard him, so start preparing for landing and offloading you two." Keenah said, brushing by Brandon and leaving the room. Brandon shot a look at Tali, who quickly responded by ducking her head and leaving the room. With a sigh, Brandon left the formerly occupied room.

******************************ME: The Gift*********************************************

"What do you mean, you won't let us dock? Our permits were all filled out and any fees we had were taken care of before we left the Fleet." Keenah said, exasperated at the hold up. When he had signaled that the Honorata was going to dock, the Illium authorities had denied him the right to enter Illium airspace.

"We are sorry sir, but we will have to ask you to please maintain orbit until we can clear up this issue. Do you and your crew have enough supplies?" The asari's pleasant voice covering her disgust for the Quarian. _If they think that I'm going to let their thieving asses onto our world, they have another thing coming_ , she thought to herself. When the Quarian replied they would be able to wait it out, she calmly ended the conversation and closed the channel.

Two days later…..

Keenah paced the corridor, following the same route he had since he had last talked to the asari docking official. Any attempt to contact the asari had failed and there had been no return communications. He didn't want to admit it to the crew but he was sure that the asari was blocking them from landing because of her prejudices. The human was still doing little more than looking through the extranet whenever Keenah saw him, and it frustrated him. Keenah snapped out of his reverie when he heard footfalls approaching his pacing line. He turned, and was surprised that the human was walking towards him.

"Keenah, I might have a way for us to land on Illium." The human said, excitement clear in his voice.

"Let me guess, you found the answer on one of your extranet sites?" Keenah couldn't contain his sarcasm.

Clearly hurt, the human replied, "No. My plan involves a fake identity, and some well-forged documents."

"Exactly how does this help? Unless you are trying to get thrown into prison for fraud."

"Just listen, the documents identify this ship and crew as part of the Alliance Naval Intelligence, and the ID is for a high-ranking Alliance officer. With Eden Prime having been attacked, we have an opening."

"Are you joking? Because this is not funny."

"Look Keenah, I get that you don't trust me, but right now, I'm the only chance we have of getting planet-side with that damned racist asari."

Keenah paused, knowing that the human was right. The two then headed to the bridge and Brandon downloaded his forgeries onto the ship's systems. Brandon opened a communications channel with the docking official and began his plan.

"This is Staff Commander Green of the Sysems Alliance Intelligence, requesting permission to dock."

An asari replied almost immediately, "Commander Green, your ship is not cleared to land on Illium."

"I would like to know the exact reason as to why I and my crew cannot land, Miss…"

" K'Loni, Aea K'Loni. Your ship has not been cleared due to the Quarian registration of your ship."

"Miss K'Loni, the mission I am on requires a joint-effort of the Migrant Fleet and the Alliance. If you were to check your registry again, I am sure that this could be quickly resolved."

The asari rechecked the Honorata's registration, and furrowed her brow as she saw that the human was right. She sighed, then returned to comm channel.

"You were correct Commander, however your entire crew is flagged as security risks due to their backgrounds."

"Miss, if you are insinuating what I think you are insinuating, we will have many problems. I imagine you have heard about the attack on our colony Eden Prime?"

"Of course, the whole galaxy has heard about it by now."

"Understand that my mission to Illium is to prevent the possibility of another such attack on other colonies. The crew were chosen for this reason, and as such I demand you let us land."

"I'm sorry but I cannot comply with your demand. You must understand…"

"Well I'm sorry that I don't understand. I am trying to do my part in preventing a Geth invasion of Council Space and I am less than two minutes from owing the Council an explanation as to why my team isn't groundside."

"Frankly Commander, I doubt that that is true. The Council wouldn't get involved in a solely human problem."

"That's just it. I might get a court-martial for this but, there have been other Geth attacks. The Council is currently covering attacks on turian, asari, and volus colonies due to their unexpected nature. The attack on Eden Prime was designated as the only one that the public could learn about. Other teams have been dispatched. Now if you would be so kind as to let us land."

"Y-Yes, sir. Proceed to Bay 27." The asari stuttered, then closed the comm channel. She sat, and tried to compose herself then return to her job.

********************************ME: The Gift******************************************

On the Honorata, after landing….

"Fair enough human, your solution worked." Keenah acquiesced, leaving the airlock with the rest of the crew.

"If I could have, I might have been able to convince her to give us a refund on our docking fees." Brandon replied, his helmetless face plastered with a smile.

"I think the fear of Council intervention was good enough. They even told security to leave us alone, on penalty of death. My thanks human."

Brandon nodded then turned to the busy spaceport. The crew of the Honorata disappeared into the masses, eager to hurry along with their business. Brandon spotted an air-taxi stand and quickly made his way over to it. He punched his destination into the console, paid his fare and climbed into the air-taxi. The asari driver didn't look at him and took off without a word. Brandon tried to start a conversation several times on the way to the bank, but the driver ignored him with practiced ease. Within a matter of minutes the air-taxi arrived and dropped him off in front of the bank. Brandon walked into the bank and was promptly greeted by an asari teller.

"Hello sir, welcome to the Bank of Nos Astra. Since we do not have any public accounts, may I ask what business you have here?" the teller inquired, seemingly at peace with an armored individual showing up carrying a large bag.

"I have an account here." Brandon says, setting down his bag near the counter.

"Then please open your account."

Brandon typed in the account number and code from his omni-tool message and was rewarded with the contents of the account. The sheer number of sub-accounts within the primary account stunned him, as the teller monitored his activities.

"Oh, I am sorry sir. I did not recognize you." The asari rapidly apologized, trying to appease Brandon.

"I'm sorry, but I think you have me mistaken for someone else." Brandon said, tearing his eyes away from the massive amount of financial data.

"You look so much like Brandon that you must be his son. He talked about you a lot. Your father opened an account with us not long after your species joined the galactic community. His business practices are legendary here on Illium."

"Wait, my father was a… businessman?"

"Why yes, like his father and all their fathers going back nearly two hundred years according to him. Your family started the Sirta Foundation and created medi-gel. Shouldn't you know this on your own?"

"While I was deployed I suffered a head injury that caused memory loss and mild amnesia. Since I'm on furlough pending treatment, my father sent me a message to check on the account."

"Your father never said you were a soldier."

"It's not something he's proud to tell people. He always wanted me to follow in his footsteps, but I felt a different calling."

"Let me know if you need anything sir." The asari said, turning back to her console and returning to her duties. Brandon returned to the immense amount of data, soaking in the information and feeling new information form from his subconscious. He searched the histories of the various accounts, watching as the accounts accurately predicted the next day's market trend. He finished his readings and asked the teller that he wished to withdraw some funds.

"How much sir?" She inquired, seeming excited to help him.

"Thirty million please." Brandon replied, fearing a rebuke from the teller. Instead she pulled out thirty chits, filled them with the credits and handed them to him.

"That leaves the account's final balance as 6.22 billion credits. Have a nice day sir." She said, watching the young heir walk out the bank.

Back in the spaceport….

Tali and Keenah had gathered their list of supplies for the Honorata in peace thanks to Brandon's gambit with the port officials. As they headed back to meet the rest of the crew, Tali's omni-tool chirped, announcing that someone was trying to contact her. She activated the comm function and was greeted by Brandon's voice.

"Tali, the bank was the find I needed." He explained, enthusiasm clear.

"That's good. Are you any closer to your true identity?" Tali inquired.

"Yes. This actually is my identity. I'm the son of some business mogul, and our family doesn't use a second name for some reason. I checked it out and I'm apparently the seventh generation to go by the name of Brandon. My father is beyond rich and influential. Apparently my father and I disagreed on our views for my life. I am an actual enlisted marine in the Alliance navy, but I don't know much more than that. The rest of the information I have is all financial and won't fill in any blanks."

"That's good to hear. Keenah and I are almost back to the ship. It was almost too easy thanks to you."

"You're welcome. I've been checking on our Jacobus problem, and I'm worried."

"Why?" Tali stopped walking, the crew visible in the busy square not far from her and Keenah.

"The spaceport registered an unexpected arrival near our docking bay, and then there were reports that a turian was asking questions about quarian arrivals. I'll be back to the rendezvous point in under five minutes, so let's be ready to leave as soon as possible."

"Okay, see you then." Tali ended the conversation, and looked up in time to see the Honorata's crew engulfed in a fireball.

The explosion rocked the street, sending everyone to the ground. Jacobus appeared from around the corner, flanked by eight other mercenaries. Tali and Keenah, fled to cover as the mercs opened fire. Civilians ran screaming as some were caught in the crossfire between the two groups. Tali activated her omni-tool "sabotaging" some of their weapons. Keenah kept them in cover with his SMG. Tali knew that they were going to need help to get out of here. She contacted Brandon, pleading that he would pick up in time.

****************************ME: The Gift****************************************

Seeing the spaceport looming in front of the air taxi, Brandon was surprised when he saw Tali was trying to contact him. He answered, and was shocked to hear the sound of gunfire in the background.

"Tali! What's happening?" He asked, signaling the taxi driver to land momentarily. The driver obliged, and listened in mild fascination to the exchange.

"Jacobus found us! He killed the rest of the crew and now Keenah and I are pinned down! We need help!" She yelled to hear herself over the gunfire.

"I'll be there in a few seconds! Just hold on!" Brandon looked up, and the taxi driver shrugged.

"I'll give you a million credits right now for your taxi and for you to call whatever security force Illium has for this place." Brandon flatly stated, plans rushing through his head on how to save his friends.

"Sure, I'll take those credits right now then," The driver said. Brandon shoved one of the chits from the bank into the driver's hands and the driver got out of the taxi. Brandon pulled himself into the driver's seat and took off, ignoring any traffic laws he needed to in order to get there sooner.

Brandon flew the taxi over the decimated area. He could see bodies and battle lines drawn by the gunfire. When the mercs saw the vehicle, they turned their fire on him. With the bullets whistling off the metal plating, Brandon jammed the accelerator and pointed the ship at the mercs. He threw himself from the taxi, praying that his instinctive knowledge would help him survive the fall. The taxi and Brandon hit the ground at the same time. The taxi crushed one merc and knocked two others over the side of the platform. He ran to Tali and Keenah's postion, weapon fire tracing his footsteps. He got behind the cover and looked at his two friends. He knew what he had to do as soon as he looked at them.

"I'm going to charge them! While they're focused on me, get somewhere ASAP!" He yelled, pulling out his assault rifle and blindly firing over the cover.

"No! You'll be killed!" Tali shouted.

"I might survive, I might not. But you two need to get out of here and get that information to the Council. Keenah, get her off-planet no matter what. I saw a turian freighter on my way in. It's your best shot. Now go!" He exclaimed jumping over the cover and racing forward. Tali tried to grab him, but Keenah pulled her alongside him into a flat sprint. The two could hear the mercs shouting but didn't look back. They found the freighter Brandon had mentioned, and hurried into its cargo bay. The turian crews didn't see the Quarians through all the boxes of goods they were loading. The two hunkered down in a darkened section and hoped that they would be able to finish their mission.

***********************************************ME: The Gift**********************************************************************

Brandon charged the mercs, catching them off-guard. He heard Tali and Keenah running, their footsteps fading into the sound of gunfire. Brandon neared the first mercenary, a human, while his weapon was overheated. Brandon whipped his rifle across the man's head, breaking his neck. He fired through the shields of a nearby turian and made it to mercs' cover. Three mercs looked over the cover in time to see Brandon hurtling into them. The middle merc got two boots to the face, and the other two were grabbed roughly by their faces. Brandon slammed their heads into the ground, satisfied by the crunch of bone from all three mercs' skulls. Brandon stood up and looked for Jacobus.

He felt a bullet tear through his left shoulder. He rolled with the bullet's force, diving back over the mercs' cover. _Left deltoid and underlying tissue damaged, blood loss severe_ , a robotic voice droned in Brandon's head. Knowing it was now a race against time, Brandon pulled out his two shotguns, fighting the pain in his left arm. He jumped back over the cover, firing both shotguns in concert. Jacobus's shields fell under the onslaught and the merc leader started to back away. As the shotguns overheated and fell silent, Jacobus raised his pistol only for the air to be cut by sirens. Illium police had arrived and were aiming their weapons at the dueling pair. Jacobus dropped his weapon and raised his hands, something akin to a smirk on his face. Brandon started to let go of his shotguns, only to hear his heartbeat suddenly become deafening as the world around him faded. He couldn't help but slip into the darkness as his body slumped to the platform.


	3. Chapter 3

Keenah awoke to the sounds of crates being moved and the crewmen moving them. Gently shaking Tali awake, he looked out into the cargo hold from their hiding place. He could see several large humans and a number of turians all gathered near the open bay doors, calling out orders to each other. The two quarians moved closer to the doors, waiting for a chance to bolt once the crew were turned away.

"We got stowaways!" A turian shouted, startling the pair. The crew members formed a body wall across the bay and began to advance, not allowing a single escape route for Keenah and Tali. They ran, hid, and scurried to try and avoid the crewmen but were eventually grabbed and subdued. The captain came to them, a look of disgust on his face. The crew looked to him, waiting for his order.

"Give them to C-Sec. These suit-rats aren't worth the bullets." He stated, then turned back to his duties as the crew escorted Tali and Keenah to the nearest C-Sec officer.

******************************ME: The Gift*********************************************

Brandon awoke with a start, sitting up to find himself in a hospital bed instead of slumped on a devastated street. He pulled the sheet off himself, and looked at his left shoulder. _Skin will require more time to heal, muscle damage repaired, lost blood replaced, pain relievers and mild depressants present in bloodstream. Status: Active for duty._ The mechanical voice explained as Brandon extracted himself from the bed and machines attached to him. With numb fingers, he pulled his armor from a nearby cabinet top and began to armor up piece by piece. When he finished puling his armor on, he looked for his bag and found it in the corner of the room. With his bag slung over his shoulder, he looked for a way out of the room. The door was clearly not the easiest way to escape discreetly, so he went to the window and opened it. He looked out and saw that he was on the second floor overlooking an alleyway. He didn't hesitate as he fell out of the window and landed in the alley. With the pain relievers still in effect, he couldn't tell if he had hurt himself but the voice hadn't told him that he had so he figured he was fine. He activated the nav-point in his omni-tools and headed to the spaceport, knowing that it was where he could find out where Tali and Keenah had gone on that freighter.

******************************ME: The Gift*********************************************

To say Tali was mad would be an understatement. She had tried to get the officers at C-Sec to listen to her but instead she got rebukes and told that if she and Keenah didn't leave the Citadel in the next day, they would be arrested. She led the way up to the Presidium, ignoring the glares and insults. Keenah followed quietly, trying to come up with a plan. Tali and Keenah tried to go to the Citadel Tower to meet with the Council, only to be denied. They questioned Avina for an explanation.

"But we need to see the Council! We have evidence of a Spectre betraying the Council!" Tali exclaimed.

"Do you have an appointment with the Council?" Avina inquired, unfazed by the quarian's outburst.

"No, but…"Tali started to reply, only to be cut off.

"If you do not have an appointment with the Council, the current wait is seven months." Avina explained, ignoring Tali's pleas.

"Tali, we can't reason with…" Keenah interrupted by a gunshot. He fell to the ground, clutching his midsection. Tali reached for Keenah, and felt fire carve a line through her arm. In pain, she dragged Keenah to his feet and they joined the masses of people fleeing the area, alert for any sign of pursuit.

***********************ME: The Gift****************************************************

Brandon could barely sit in the shuttle, his senses ablaze with an overload in the public shuttle transport. He had found out that the freighter was on its way to the Citadel and he had immediately inquired about how quickly he could get there. He had to buy off the spaceport official and the customs officer, but he shortly found himself on his way to the Citadel. His only hope at this point was that Jacobus been grabbed by the Illium security, but he couldn't be sure. To keep his mind off what was happening, he devoted his attention to the financial records from Illium. By the time the shuttle had arrived at the Citadel, Brandon knew that the Illium account was only a part of a vast financial network. He passed through customs using his fake ID and tried to contact Tali.

**************************ME: The Gift*************************************************

Tali couldn't focus anymore. She and Keenah had tried going to the embassy for help, only to be turned by a turian assistant. The assistant didn't even seem to notice that they had been shot and instead told them to leave or he would call C-Sec. Tali and Keenah left the embassies and headed for the Wards. They barely slipped by Jacobus and his goons only to be pursued throughout the Wards. Tali and Keenah had managed to lose them for the moment by hiding in an incinerator, but they both knew they were going to be caught sooner or later. Keenah groaned, then slumped to the floor of the incinerator.

"Keenah, stay with me!" Tali pleaded, her words as weak as her body.

"I…I'm sorry Tali, but that's an order I can't follow…" Keenah said with his last breath. Tali felt the tears begin to run, and she quickly stopped herself from crying. She couldn't quit now; First Brandon, and now Keenah had given their lives trying to make sure that she lived so she could deliver the information. She started to hatch her plan on how to finally kill the man who had stolen her newest and now her oldest friends from her.

Jacobus could hear one of the quarians talking, stopping himself so he could pinpoint the sound. Carefully sneaking up on them, he came around the corner, ready to fire. He saw one of the quarians, recently dead. He lowered his weapon, searching for the other quarian as a small holo spoke near the dead quarian. Jacobus realized he had been tricked a moment too late. His scream and body were consumed by the fire of the incinerator. Tali didn't remember much of what happened next, only that she found her way to a med clinic and was now receiving treatment.

************************************ME: The Gift***************************************

Brandon tried contacting Tali and Keenah and still couldn't get either one to respond. He went to C-Sec and when he started asking for help, he got shut out. He was wandering the Presidium when he heard a public news broadcast:

"Today's top story: The end of the Brandon legacy? With Brandon the Sixth now dead and buried, the search for the heir to the massive business empire has begun. The stocks of Brandon-owned companies have consistently dropped in price since the business genius's death three days ago. If no heir steps forward by the close of the week, several companies will be forced to close their doors."

Brandon didn't feel his knees collapse, he didn't feel the group of people trying to help him up. All he could feel were the tears flowing his eyes. He could feel himself trying to speak, only for it to be lost in his sobs. When he finally calmed down, the group dispersed except for an older human in a suit.

"What got you that upset boy?" He said, mixing concern and contempt.

"That news broadcast. I've been away for a while and now my father is dead." Brandon, feeling himself on the verge of total despair.

"Wait, you mean you're Brandon the Seventh. I…I'm sorry sir." The man practically bowing to Brandon, "My name is Burs and I was your father's secretary, now your secretary technically, sir. I'll send you the things your father was working on immediately, sir. Do you want to meet with the heads of your various companies and departments, sir?"

"Uhm, no thanks Burs. And feel free to call me Brandon. Just tell them that I will eventually meet with them once I've taken care of some things." Brandon said, then left as the secretary started calling all the various chief officers,

****************************ME: The Gift***********************************************

When the human doctor introduced herself as Dr. Michel, Tali couldn't stop herself from telling her story as the doctor worked. When the doctor finished her work, she asked Tali if she had somewhere safe to stay. A volus chose that opportune time to enter their conversation.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear you two. My name is Barla Von and I happen to work for… a powerful information broker. I would be more than willing to help arrange a deal." The volus explained.

"Tali, Barla Von works the Shadow Broker. Do you know who that is?" Dr. Michel inquired.

"Of course. Can the Shadow Broker protect me from Saren though?"

"He can Tali. When you're ready to talk business, go to Chora's Den. Talk to Fist. He can set up the exchange." Barla Von said. With a cheerful goodbye, the volus left. Dr. Michel and Tali talked for some time and then Tali left to go find Fist.

*****************************ME: The Gift**********************************************

Brandon knew the only way he was going to find Tali was to find someone who already knew where she was. With C-Sec being uncooperative, that left information brokers. Using some of his father's records and asking the right people, Brandon found the Citadel's lead information broker. He entered the office, slightly surprised when the information broker verbally engaged him.

"I wondered when the mysterious heir to the Brandon mantle would enter my office." He said. Brandon took a seat across from the broker, taken by surprise.

"News travels fast here. If you know who I am then you should know I expect the same amount of cooperation you had with my father." Brandon told the broker. They stared at each other for a moment before they spoke again.

"I had no dealings with your father."

"Don't lie to me, he has enough records linking you to several…. unsavory trades and I still happen to have the evidence. I came to you for two reasons. You're part of the Shadow Broker's network and if this got out it would jeopardize your entire operation on the Citadel, so you now have motivation. The second reason is that I also found that in my father's records that he noted you knew more than even C-Sec about this station. I'm looking for someone and you're going to help me, out of the… goodness of your heart, Barla Von." The volus was silent for a moment, clearly looking for options.

"Very well. You understand that you won't be using my services again?"

"Do you understand that I don't care? Tell me where Tali'Zorah nar Rayya is."

"Interesting coincidence. I sent her to another agent of… my boss. She is likely to be at Chora's Den, down in the wards."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Brandon stood up and left, headed for the nearest Citadel Rapid Transit.

**********************************ME: The Gift*****************************************

Tali was leaving Chora's Den, her satisfaction at completing the deal made bittersweet by the blood spilled over the information. She was too busy thinking of her fallen friends to see Brandon appear from around the corner. As soon as he saw Tali he started running. He didn't stop as he pulled her into a swinging hug. Tali thought she was being kidnapped so she punched her would-be attacker, knocking them to the floor. She turned and couldn't believe her eyes. It was Brandon, holding his jaw but still smiling a wide smile. He got up and threw his arms back around her, this time she eagerly returned the hug. For how long they held they didn't know but they didn't care. They were alive and they had found each other. Brandon disengaged first, and Tali just stared at him. Brandon eagerly launched into his story, telling of his fight with Jacobus, his wounding, and desperate search for Tali. Tali started to tell her story of her time on the Citadel, but she choked up as she told Brandon that she and Keenah had fled to the Wards from Jacobus.

"Yeah, where is Keenah anyway? I took care of the Rayya. It'll be there waiting for the three of us."

"Brandon, Keenah died before I killed Jacobus." Tali hung her head, feeling like a failure.

"Tali, you did the best you could. I didn't know him that well, but I could tell he was your friend. I'm sorry but we can mourn him later, when we can do it properly. Barla Von told me you were here for a deal. What did he mean by that?"

Tali explained the deal she had struck with Fist and how she was meeting the Shadow Broker in a few hours for the exchange. Brandon immediately insisted that he be there for the deal and was not going to take no for an answer. Though she didn't admit it to him, she was glad he wanted to come along.

When they arrived at the meeting point, two salarians were waiting alongside a turian. Brandon carefully rested his hand on his pistol but made no move to draw it. Tali instantly became suspicious.

"Where's Fist?" she asked, uneasy about the missing man. The turian reached out, his hand running across her faceplate. Brandon edged his pistol out, feeling an uncharacteristic burst of jealousy. He was confused by the emotion but he didn't let either show on his face.

"Relax, he'll be here." The turian said nonchalantly. Tali smacked his hand away

"No way, the deal's off." She said, starting to turn away. The turian signaled the salarians, who were lounging behind Tali and Brandon. They made moves for their weapons as they approached. Tali threw a proximity mine between them, causing it to explode. Brandon leaped forward, tackling the turian and pulling his pistol free. The turian fell, but punched Brandon in the head, stunning him. Tali ran to cover as gunfire erupted another group. The salarians fell without firing a shot. Brandon wrestled with the turian, rolling around the floor. When he managed to get on top of the turian, he punched him, and pointed his gun at the turian and fired. The bullet went through the turian's eye, instantly killing him. He stood up, facing the group that had taken down the salarians. A human was leading a turian and a female human alongside him. Brandon lowered his weapon as the group did too. Tali came out of hiding to talk to the new group.

"Fist set us up! We shouldn't have trusted him! Who are you?" Tali said.

"I'm glad to that you both are okay. I'm Commander Shepard." The lead human introduced himself.


	4. Chapter 4

With introductions quickly exchanged the large group traveled to Udina's office to show the evidence against Saren. They arrived to find Captain Anderson meeting with Udina.

"You're not making my life easy Shepard. Firefights in the Wards. An all-out assault on Chora's Den. Do you have any idea how…," Udina paused, finally noticing Tali and Brandon," Who is that quarian and who's that next to her? What are you up to Shepard?"

"Making your day Ambassador. She has information linking Saren to the Geth. The other guy, I'm not so sure, but Tali seems to trust him." Commander Shepard replied. Anderson furrowed his brow, and realization dawned on his face.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but that man is Major Brandon. He went missing three months ago, assumed KIA." Anderson explained. He walked over to Brandon and saluted, who quickly saluted back. Udina resumed the conversation, while Anderson made a motion for Brandon to follow him as he left the office. Anderson rounded on Brandon, anger clear on his face.

"Soldier I need an explanation right now before I'm forced to court-martial you!" He said, his eyes staring right into Brandon's.

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't know what I can say. Three days ago, I woke up in a puddle of green goo with two quarians looking at me like I had just been dead."

"That doesn't make any sense. Three months ago you were leading your squad to liberate a colony under attack by pirates. Your squad was being overwhelmed and you drew most of the pirates to yourself after ordering your squad to retreat. When they found your last position, they found dozens of dead pirates and most of your armor laying in a smoking crater. Now I will ask again, what's your explanation for that? Were you trying to jeopardize your chances at N7 recruitment?"

"Sir, until three days ago, I was a Geth prisoner. Tali and her crew rescued me when they were investigating the Geth presence there. I have no memories of anything before they freed me. While searching the Geth facility, we found an OSD that had information on the experiments they performed on me. One of them was an experimental mind wipe that left memories irreversibly lost. I'm sorry sir, but that's all I know." Brandon elaborated, as the captain's sunk. He sighed, then placed his head in his hands while he thought. The best answer to the situation he could come up with was unorthodox but would also solve two problems with one action. He looked at Brandon, signaling him to follow and they returned to the ambassador's office as passive observers.

"Most of the core was wiped clean, but I salvaged something from its audio banks." Tali said, activating her omni-tool to play the recording. Brandon closed his eyes and let the recording wash over him as he heard it for a second time:

"Eden Prime was a major victory; the beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." A turian male voice spoke.

"That's Saren's voice! This proves he was involved in the attack!" Captain Anderson exclaimed, startling most of the group with his outburst.

Commander Shepard concentrated and turned to Anderson, "He said Eden Prime brought him closer to finding the Conduit. Any idea what that means?"

"The Conduit must have something to do with the beacon. Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology, like a weapon!"

"Wait, there's more. Saren wasn't working alone." Tali interjected, and fiddled with her omni-tool. The recording restarted, with Saren clearly gloating. The second voice was female, and spoke of Reapers.

"I don't recognize that other voice, the one talking about Reapers." Udina said, mild concern showing through his apathetic voice.

"Are they some kind of new alien species?" Shepard asked Tali and Brandon, clearly acknowledging that they might know more.

Tali spoke up, since she was the one who had analyzed the core.

"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then they vanished. At least that's what the Geth believe." Tali said, speaking with her hands as well.

"Sounds a little far-fetched." Udina replied dismissively.

Shepard, looking shaken, remarked, "The vision on Eden Prime, I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped by the Reapers."

"The Geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back." Tali said, earning a nod from Brandon and a frown from Udina.

"The Council is going to love this." Udina said, clearly thinking politics now.

"The Reapers are a threat to every species in Citadel space. We have to tell them." Commander Shepard replied.

"No matter they think about the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren's a traitor!" Anderson noted.

"The captain is right. We need to present this to the Council right away." Udina continued.

"But what about her? The quarian? And her human sidekick?" Garrus inquired, not noticing Brandon's look of fury.

"My name is Tali. You saw me in the alley Commander, you know what I… what we can do. Let us come with you." She responded, motioning to Brandon as well.

"I thought you were on your Pilgrimage? Also, I don't think that Brandon is going anywhere other than back to his squad." Shepard replied.

Brandon stayed silent as Tali continued, "The Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this? Saren is a danger to the entire galaxy, my Pilgrimage can wait."

"I'll take all the help I can get." The commander said simply.

"Yes you do Commander. And that's why I'm also assigning you as Brandon's N7 CO. Before you even think of complaining, this was set in motion before he disappeared; Now that he's here, it seems like the best time to do this." Anderson ordered Shepard. Brandon and Tali stood beside Commander Shepard, thanking him for the opportunity to help. Shepard seemed surprised, and happy at the same time.

"Anderson and I will go ahead to get things ready with the Council. Take a few minutes to collect yourselves, then meet us at the tower." Udina said, traipsing past the large group with Anderson following quickly behind him. Commander Shepard turned to Brandon, gave him a quick once-over with his eyes. When they looked into each other's eyes, Tali couldn't help but feel these two were more similar than most comrades-in-arms.

Commander Shepard spoke first, "Major, you are now under my command. At this time, I would like to formally induct you and Tali into the crew of the Normandy. Your first orders are to escort Tali and the evidence to the Council's chambers. I will be along soon enough."

"Yes sir! Thank you sir." Brandon said, saluting. Tali thanked Shepard and turned to Brandon. They had done it. They had survived and were now part of the hunt for the man who had been chasing them. Tali couldn't wait to see where their adventures would now take them.


	5. Chapter 5

_Spectre_ , Commander Shepard thought to himself. He still couldn't believe it or anything that had happened since. He snapped out of his reverie as Joker announced their approach of Therum. He left his private room and went to meet with the squad in the cargo bay. For this mission he was going to need to drive the Mako, something he had never done before. _Shouldn't be too hard,_ he thought as the elevator finished its crawl to the bay.

They were waiting to see who he wanted to take with him. He immediately chose Garrus, knowing he would need the sniper's skill. But who else to take was a tough choice. He needed someone who would be able to help them if they had any serious biotic issues. Garrus could cover the tech so the choice was between Kaidan and Wrex for biotics. Wrex, the mercenary, had joined up for his own reasons and Shepard understood that. Sometimes you have to do what you need to do.

He remembered the first time he had come down to the cargo bay and caught Brandon and Wrex arguing. He could only watch in mild amusement as they decided to settle it the only way they could agree on: physical supremacy. After three rounds, Wrex upped the ante by knocking Garrus over and then hitting the Mako. Brandon's response was the most hilarious by far. Not only did he head-butt Wrex, he followed it up with three hits off the Mako. Wrex officially conceded at that point and noticed Shepard had been watching. Wrex could only laugh as Brandon stumbled his way to the elevator, clearly on his way to Dr. Chakwas.

With that in mind, Shepard decided it would be better to take Wrex along since he needed someone who could keep them alive and keep Garrus from getting too confident. The team selected, they got into the Mako and prepared for the drop.

****************************ME: The Gift****************************************

With the Commander on mission, Brandon returned with Tali to engineering, both happy they weren't going along for the ride. The whole crew was already making jokes about Shepard's experience driving the Mako, or lack thereof. Brandon had been assigned to engineering due to his "experience" as an engineer. Tali had naturally drifted down there and now they worked their shifts together, pestering Adams with their questions and helping maintain the Tantalus Core. Tali and Brandon passed the time talking, mostly about Tali since she already knew almost everything about him that he knew.

"So are there any humans living amongst the Migrant Fleet?" Brandon asked as they adjusted the flow of heat through the stealth drive.

"Why? You planning on joining if you can? Don't you have businesses to run?" Tali teased, her hands steady and quick.

"Just wondering. It sounds like my kind of place. And plus, I only make the major decisions for the companies, the rest is handled by other people." Brandon replied, just happy that someone would talk to him. Garrus didn't like him, but then again Brandon wasn't too fond of turians in general. The human crew wasn't much better. Most resented the fact that he had been implanted into their group and let Brandon know it. Kaidan was only willing to talk shop, and Ashley only wanted his opinion on the armory. Wrex had decided that Brandon was worthy of respect, or whatever krogans called it, but not much more. Tali was the only one who he actually enjoyed talking with.

"I've heard of a few, but I've honestly never seen any. Someone needs to tell Joker that if he keeps high-point idling while the stealth drive is active, we might have to vent a lot sooner." Tali turned, heading for the elevator. Brandon reached out, grabbing her arm. She stopped, and faced him.

"I'll tell Joker. Besides, you're the one that knows the engines better of the two of us." Brandon smiled, then slid past her and out of the engineering. Brandon rode up the elevator, impatient to take care of the issue and get back to engineering. Adams didn't like having people missing during missions. Brandon passed through the doors and entered the CIC. Walking past the active sensor array, he heard the crewman gasp. He reactively turned, searching for what had disturbed the crewman. The crewman turned, intent on reaching Joker, only to bounce off of Brandon. Brandon turned, opening up enough room for the crewman to race to Joker as Brandon raced back to the elevator.

******************************ME: The Gift**************************************

"Commander, you have a dropship incoming." Joker radioed in. Shepard barely had time to acknowledge the warning before a Geth quadruped platform and several troopers dropped from the sky and immediately began attacking. Garrus fell back behind a nearby column while Wrex activated his "barrier" and charged the large quadruped Geth. Shepard pulled out his shotgun and blasted at the advancing troopers. The troopers quickly fell between the rapid-fire shotgun and the well-placed sniper fire provided by Shepard and Garrus. The quadruped tried in vain to break through Wrex's barriers, but the krogan's biotics were too strong to overcome. The attacking party defeated, the three quickly entered the ruins, hoping to avoid any more surprises.

Quickly passing into the entrance tunnel, Shepard led the squad out and into the underground ruin. Making their way across the catwalks, Shepard barely had time to react as his shields stopped a bullet from taking his head off. He turned, instinctively firing at the sniper's possible position. Garrus and Wrex opened fire on the more visible Geth waiting below them. The squad inundated the battlefield with explosions as they targeted the containment cells scattered around the dig site. Once the Geth were all down, the squad made their way down and off the catwalks. Seeing an elevator, the squad headed deeper into the dig site. The elevator shuddered, then dropped like a stone. After the emergency brakes kicked in and stopped the elevator car, the squad exited, looking like they had just ridden a fast rollercoaster. Shepard was the first to recover and notice the force field.

Behind it was an asari trapped inside a smaller spherical force field. The asari noticed the squad and spoke first.

"Please help me! We need to leave before more Geth show up. When I ran in here to avoid the Geth and when I activated the barriers, I must have accidently hit something. Please get me out of here!" The asari yelled, panicking in her enclosure.

"What if she's actually helping her mother? If we let her out, we might just set loose an enemy." Wrex pointed out, shotgun still in his hand.

"My mother and I haven't spoken in years. Why would I help her?" Liara said, panic slowly making her voice shriller.

"I think we're fine Wrex, the only question is how to get through the barriers." Shepard replied, as Garrus took a potshot at the barrier. The bullet ricocheted, lancing deep into the cavern behind them. It found a new home with a metallic clang, begging the rescue team to turn. The three immediately noticed a massive laser drill sitting below them, already pointed at a lower point in the ruin.

"That might work." Shepard grinned, the plan already formed in his head. The three quickly ran down to the drill, only to be stopped by a hail of Geth fire. They returned the favor with gusto, quickly ending their enemies. Shepard quickly activated the drill, to be rewarded with a blast that cleared a path straight to the inner chamber of the ruins. The team rode up the ancient elevator and freed Liara, who graciously hugged Shepard. Shepard felt a momentary flush cross his face but ignored it as the ruin shook. The group activated the elevator, express service to the top of the ruin. They scarcely had stopped at the top, only to be confronted by a krogan leading several Geth.

"Hand over the doctor Shepard!" the krogan called out, seemingly oblivious to the ruin's impending collapse.

"I think she'd rather stay with us. And in case you haven't noticed, the whole place is coming down!" Shepard shouted, the groans of the ancient architecture nearly drowning him out. He couldn't quite hear the response, but by the guns pointed at him and his team, it wasn't "Let's solve this later". They handled this encounter with similar tactics as the drop ship's envoys, with the enemy krogan playing the outmatched quadruped. As shrieks of tearing metal echoed through the dig site, Shepard herded the group out of the ruin and to the waiting Normandy.

***************************ME: The Gift*****************************************

"Just for your information Commander, we try to avoid landing in active volcanoes. It tends to fry our systems and cook our passengers." Joker explained over the intercom. The assembled crew members collectively rolled their eyes as their new guest Liara T'Soni could only gasp a Joker's sarcasm.

"Is your pilot really making jokes right now? We almost died back there!" She said, surprised at everyone's nonchalant attitude.

"Considering he just saved us, I think he's earned the right to a few bad jokes." Shepard replied. The crew discussed the overall success of the mission and their newest crewmate. They watched with fascination as Liara mind-melded with Shepard in an attempt to understand the beacon's vision. When it failed, the crew dispersed while the Shepard gave his report to the Council. After everything had settled down Garrus, Brandon, Tali, Wrex, and Liara all settled in for a late dinner at the small table.

"Garrus, you're still looking a little green. Was the Mako ride really that bad?" Brandon asked, honest curiosity mixing with sarcasm.

"Just you wait until it's your turn, then let's see whose greener." Garrus replied, happy to verbally spar. Wrex looked up from his meal to take in the moment and laugh.

"Fringed pyjak over there wasn't ready for it to get a little bouncy, huh?" The big krogan mocked, "Unlike turians turning green with fear, when humans turn green, it's right before they spew."

Wrex's sentence was punctuated by Brandon gagging, then racing into the med-bay. The others could still hear the stomach-churning noises from their seats.

"Poor kid didn't even wait for me to finish humiliating you Garrus. That's just disrespectful." Wrex shook his head, then returned to eating as though nothing had happened. The others looked at each other, all of them feeling a little sorry for the horrible timing of Brandon's abrupt departure. Brandon came back out of the med-bay, pale and sweaty. He sat back down at his seat but didn't touch the remainder of his food.

"Dr. Chakwas said she would run some tests." He said flatly, pushing the food away. Without looking up, Wrex grabbed Brandon's tray.

"More for me then." He dumped it onto his nearly empty tray.

"You don't exactly look your best there Brandon." Garrus said, genuinely concerned for the boy's health. Only as a professional courtesy of course.

"I'll be fine. I just need to keep some space from everybody for a little while." Brandon responded, then left the table for his sleeping pod.

While the Commander and the rest of crew went about having fun on secondary missions, Brandon stayed out of rotation while on sick leave. After two days, Dr. Chakwas called in Brandon and Shepard to discuss his illness.

"I've figured out the cause of this illness. You needn't worry, it's not contagious. However, it is something wholly unique." She explained, pulling a variety of charts and scans.

"Don't keep us in suspense." Brandon lightly replied.

"Yes, my sentiments exactly. However, I would like to know why I'm needed for this." Shepard said, mildly amused by Brandon's constant need to smart-aleck. Dr Chakwas shot both of them a withering look, then decided which part she would tell first.

"Firstly, after a close inspection of your medical records and my own observations, I have found an irregularity. Your DNA is incorrectly oriented for a human." Dr. Chakwas said, pulling up two different DNA samples, spinning in opposing directions.

"Wait, you mean…" Brandon started, only for Dr. Chakwas to signal him to hold his interjections.

"Yes, you are a dextro-amino human. A seemingly physical impossibility. Yet when I looked more closely at your genetic code, I found signs of severe genetic damage and repair. The damage was likely from whatever method they used to reverse your amino acid direction. The repairs were even more interesting. The repaired sequences were minor coding points for various systems and appearance traits. The DNA used to repair the damage was not human. After running several tests, I determined the origin of the DNA as quarian." Dr. Chakwas rattled off, her curiosity clear in her tone.

"So, not only am I a backwards human, I'm not even fully human. Wonderful! Do I get minority benefits on that?" Brandon replied, trying to hide his shock and fear behind humor.

"Correct, and unfortunately no, current regulations have nothing to say on interspecies hybrids." Dr. Chakwas explained, trying assuage some of the boys' fears.

"That's really interesting Dr. Chakwas, but I don't see quite why I'm needed for you to tell him that." Shepard, confused by Dr. Chakwas asking him to be around for this.

"I was getting to that Commander. When I reviewed the preliminary sequence from Brandon's admission into the Alliance Marine Corps. I found something. He matches your DNA Commander. To within 2%, meaning that the major here is your brother."

"No."

"Commander I know you don't want to believe it but I reran the tests several times and it confirms that he is your brother."

"No, Dr. Chakwas you know why that not true. You know about Mindoir and what happened."

"Frankly, I don't what you two are freaking out about right now." Brandon cut in, redirecting them to him. Shepard could barely see him through a haze of tears. _I thought I was over it,_ he thought to himself. He wiped away the tears as Dr. Chakwas began her explanation.

"In 2170, 13 years ago, Mindoir was a human settlement. The Commander was 16 when batarians attacked the colony, killing and enslaving any survivors. The Commander here is one of the few survivors rescued by the Alliance." She explained, unable to convey the full emotional extent.

Shepard continued from there, "I watched as everyone I knew was killed. I tried to fight back but I wasn't strong enough. I was an only child and somehow you turn out to be my brother? This is some kind of sick cosmic joke!"

He turned and left Brandon sitting there stunned. He sat in silence as Dr. Chakwas resumed her duties.

"I… I didn't know." He finally said, his head hanging in shame. Chakwas turned to him, concern on her face.

"The only reason I know is because I was there. He still suffers from the occasional nightmare about it."

"I'll go talk to him. See if I can…"Brandon was cut off by Chakwas reaching for his shoulder.

"You have to let him come to terms with it himself." With that said, Chakwas turned back to her work as Brandon left the med-bay to resume his duties.


	6. Chapter 6

"You, Commander, have a bright future in politics… if you use your charm wisely." Brandon remarked, as the elevator doors had barely closed behind him. He took up his position behind Shepard and next to Tali as the elevator rose up from the C-Sec offices. Shepard merely grunted at the compliment, nonplussed that the lieutenant was trying to flatter him.

"C'mon Shepard, you know I'm right here. Tali, back me up." Brandon continued, refusing to let his thoughts go unsaid.

"We're in an elevator, there is nowhere to back you up to in here." Tali said, tired after the hectic assignments and their return to the Citadel.

"Okay, I know you know what I meant and we'll talk about that later. Seriously Shepard, lighten up. You just talked circles around an admiral, showed up a sensationalist reporter with poise, and helped that poor girl." Brandon finished, his last words lingering in the air like dead weight.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Shepard asked, venting his frustration at Brandon. Brandon raised his hands in surrender and wisely kept quiet. When the elevator stopped, the squad turned onto the Presidium and began to head for the Council's chambers. Entering another elevator, Brandon couldn't stop himself from saying something.

"These elevators are terribly designed for serious situations." Brandon bluntly pointed out.

"They were designed to conserve energy and maximize their efficiency. What about that is terribly designed?" Tali replied, taking Brandon's bait without realizing it.

"How about if the Council's chambers are taken over first? Any squads sent up this elevator would get torn apart at the top. Not to mention that their close grouping and lack of cover would make it like shooting fish in a barrel. One well-placed gunman could theoretically use this elevator as a chokepoint against an entire army."

"The problem with your crackpot theories there is that anyone could even get that close in the first place." Shepard's voice cold with annoyance.

"That's why they are theories and like I said, it's a liability in a **serious** situation. Day-to-day this is appropriate." Brandon responded just as the elevator stopped.

They left the elevator and headed to the Council's chambers. There the Councilor's personal aides quickly passed off the newest intel on Saren before practically shoving them back out.

"That was rather rude." Brandon commented, seemingly unable to help himself.

"Couldn't agree more." Shepard replied as he led them back to the elevator. On the way, Shepard spotted Admiral Kahoku and took the opportunity to talk to him. The admiral couldn't fill many blanks but he asked for their help in locating a missing squad. Shepard immediately agreed to help, not having forgotten that he was still an Alliance officer. As they headed back down to the Presidium, they didn't talk as the news announced some there recent assignments' final results. Once they were on the Presidium floor, Shepard decided it was time to upgrade everyone's armor. He went over to his favorite store, run by Delan the hanar.

"You two can look for yourselves. I have to grab some things for Garrus and Wrex since they don't have leave right now to get it." Shepard explained, passing them a credit chit. Brandon took the chit and the two immediately went to the armor stand to start searching. Shepard shook his head and pulled out the list of things he needed and began negotiating with Delan to get them. Brandon and Tali immediately searched up quarian armored exosuits and found only two matches.

"Keelah, this one's shields are worse than my normal suit's. And the other is too expensive. And pink, ugh" Tali said, shaking her head in frustration.

"Let me see. You always struck me as more of a purple girl anyways. Wait..." Brandon squinted at the screen, trying to read the fine print. Tali turned away, disappointed that they wouldn't be able to afford any new armor for either of them.

"Aha!" He continued, "Manufactured by the Sirta Foundation. Now to input the code, and …voila!"

Tali looked again and saw that the armor was now listed cheaper and even came with color options.

"How did you…?" Tali started, then Brandon held his hand up, silencing her with a flourishing motion.

"It's good to be the boss. Besides, it's not like I need new armor anyways. It still works just fine."

"Thank you." Tali simply replied. She then bought the armor in dark purple and they returned to Shepard just as he finished his shopping. Shepard immediately noticed the armor and knew that there was no way they could have honestly bought it.

"Phoenix armor Mark 7, Hydra color variant? Tell me how you got this or I swear…" Shepard let the threat hang in the air. Brandon frowned, and felt indignation rise at Shepard's criticism.

"I used my discount, that's how."

"What do you mean discount?"

"I mean the thing that lets me buy affiliated items to any of my companies for next to nothing. Which is good considering the chit you gave us had next to nothing on it."

"You will stop your insubordination right now! You're cheating this merchant out of his due and taking advantage of your personal accounts to get ahead."

"And here I thought you would be happy I would be willing to do something like this for a teammate."

"Why would you think I would be happy that you violated multiple patents and copyright laws?"

"I didn't. That discount also clears all standard requirement of patent-use financial and legal maneuvers."

"What?"

"The companies I own can share their tech if I use a special code." Brandon sarcastically explained, his voice full of condescension.

"I'm going to beat the sarcasm out of you right here!" Shepard snarled, closing the gap between them. Their eyes locked. Brandon defiantly stared right back, as their hands balled into fists.

"I dare you." Brandon threatened, then was pushed back. Tali had stepped between Shepard and him and was now forcing them apart.

"You two need to stop this right now!" She commanded, her voice larger than her presence. Shepard and Brandon turned to her, their argument forgotten.

"You two are acting like brothers fighting over a toy. Just grow up and try acting like the soldiers you're supposed to be." She stormed off, intent on reaching the Normandy. Shepard immediately took off after her. Brandon realized that he had felt blood rush to his face, and other places when Tali had asserted herself. It reminded him of the burst of jealousy he had felt back when the turian assassin had touched Tali's faceplate. He shook it off and hurried to catch up to Shepard and Tali. He made it just in time to catch them at the C-Sec elevator. As they descended, a news bulletin began:

"This just in. Heir to the massive business empire, Brandon the Seventh, has been seen on the Citadel and has yet to release a public statement about the direction he plans to take these companies. When his personal assistant was reached, he commented that the young heir was handling several pressing military matters. Inside sources have identified him as traveling with the human Spectre Commander Shepard."

"Keelah." Tali said, the first to notice the swarm of people waiting at the bottom of the elevator. Shepard grimaced, recalling the last time he had seen so many people pressed together like that. Brandon sucked in a breath, knowing that he had been found.

"Shit." Brandon cursed, knowing there was no way out of this trap. He turned to his squad mates, noting their reactions.

"I have an idea." Brandon started, "They're here for me, so when the elevator doors open, you two swing around the edge of the crowd and get to the Normandy. If you're quick enough, they won't notice you two and will be too focused on me to realize that you were anywhere near me."

"But…" Tali started to reply only to be cut off by Shepard. Shepard nodded then prepped himself for the doors to open. When the doors opened, Shepard pulled Tali around the crowd, moving swiftly as the crowd turned to the new arrival. When the reporters amongst the crowd had realized who it was, they turned on their cam-bots and immediately started shouting questions at Brandon. Shepard and Tali made it into the elevator without being noticed in the uproar. As the elevator ascended, the watched as Brandon was surrounded and lit up by the numerous cameras' lights. They raced into the Normandy and found that Brandon was the only thing that communications group was watching. They watched as he silenced the crowd of reporters. He picked one and told them to ask their question.

*********************************ME: The Gift******************************************

"My name is Khalish Bint Sinan al-Jilani of Westerlund News. When asked, your personal assistant said you were currently working with the military. Could you elaborate?" She inquired, hoping to set him up for later questions. Brandon's eyes flashed silver for a moment, barely noticeable in the brightness of the camera bots' lights.

"First off, thank you for the question Miss al-Jilani. What I can tell you is that what my personal assistant is true, just not in the way you think. For the past three years, I have been serving in the Alliance military. Yes, I know it seems hard to believe that I would be a soldier, but I chose to serve people the best I could." Brandon replied, immediately deflecting her question.

"Gerard Vianto of Traverse Daily. What are you doing about the allegations that you are too inexperienced to effectively run all these companies?" Another reporter asked, pressing closer to Brandon.

"My response to these allegations is simple really. My father trained me from a young age to be able to succeed him and this training has benefited from the lessons I've learned while serving. I didn't become a decorated officer by being unable to lead and get results."

"Aneur Amun of Thessia News. What is your response to the calls for your companies to begin opening positions to non-human workers?" the reporter rushing forward so her question would get asked.

"All of my companies are preparing for a top-down inspection once I return from my current tour of duty. Which this impromptu press conference is interrupting one of my few shore leaves."

"Cassius Tolan of Palaven Today. Is it true that your companies are supplying experimental weaponry to the human Spectre Commander Shepard?" the only turian in the crowd asked.

"No, we are not supplying anyone with experimental weaponry. That's like handing someone a primed grenade and saying it's a dud. On another note, several new military contracts are coming into Hahne-Kedar from the turian military."

"Then what about the fact that you are traveling with Commander Shepard?" Khalish called out. Brandon frowned, then contemplated his next answer. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath.

"First off, I am not currently traveling with a Council Spectre, I am serving onboard an Alliance frigate that has apparently been dry docked at the same time as the Normandy is at the Citadel. I've never met Commander Shepard, nor am I likely to. However, I did catch your interview of him earlier and might I say that your slanderous attempts to make him seem unloyal to humanity is proof of your pandering to every self-centered and egotistical human who refuses to understand that the only way forward is through cooperation. Every species needs to work together to keep advancing. No species can do it alone nor do they have to. I am regretful that I cannot stay longer but I must return to my crew so I can oversee some necessary overhauls to our shield systems. If you would please…" Brandon skillfully ranted, parting the crowd with his hands and going to the elevator. Unbeknownst to the reporters, Brandon had been keeping his hands behind his back not only to emphasize his posture; but to allow him the necessary reach to sabotage all their camera bots at the same time. As the reporters continued to try and extract more answers from him, he kept his face stony and pace slow. When he finally reached the elevator, several tried to get on, only to be shoved out before the door closed.

************************************ME: The Gift***************************************

Back in the Normandy, the whole crew was celebrating Brandon's masterful manipulation of the crowd. They especially liked how he had called out Khalish in front of dozens of cameras. They were surprised when the cameras all cut out and waited for his return. A few minutes later Brandon walked in, a grin plastered to his face as he rounded the corner to see the whole crew gathered. They gave him a Normandy-sized congratulations on sticking it to the reporters and practically championing soldiers everywhere. Once all backslaps and handshakes had been taken care of, the crew dispersed and Brandon headed down to the elevator. He took the elevator down and heard Garrus talking to the Requisitions Officer.

"All I'm saying is that interview is even more proof that he isn't really here to fight. I mean seriously, did you hear him sneak in that little bit about Hahne-Kedar so he could boost his stocks. He's only a soldier to rebel against his father. Kid's not even worthy of being called one of us." Garrus explained, his arrogance overwhelming his trained senses. He saw the Requisitions Officer's eyes widen and he turned to see Brandon looking angry. _Looking angry's an understatement_ , Garrus thought.

"Say that again, I dare you." Brandon threatened, his voice lowering to a gravelly pitch.

"What?" Garrus asked, trying to play innocent as the Officer stepped away and activated his omni-tool.

"I dare you to say that I'm not a real soldier." Brandon stepped forward, getting close enough to Garrus to stare him in the eyes.

"Your words, not mine. But I'll indulge you. You are not a….augh!" Garrus exclaimed, grabbing his face after Brandon head-butted him. Garrus stepped back, reflexively dropping into a fighter's stance as his eyesight unblurred into Brandon settling into his own stance.

"You're going to regret that." Garrus promised, taking the first swing. Brandon parried and countered. Garrus blocked and jabbed. Brandon started to edge around, trying to get to Garrus's flank. Garrus recognized the maneuver and shifted to keep Brandon in front of him. It wasn't until he saw Brandon's savage grin that he realized he'd been played. Brandon launched forward, slamming Garrus into the side of the Mako with enough force to jostle it on its suspension.

********************************ME: The Gift*******************************************

Tali had just gotten back to her station from clearing an obstruction in a ventilation shaft when the rest of the engineering crew rushed out towards the cargo bay. With Adams upstairs with Pressly and Shepard, it made Tali wonder what could draw them away in such a huge group. She followed and was startled by what she saw. Garrus and Brandon were fighting, already ringed by the engineering crew and with more crew arriving from the elevator. Tali rushed forward, hoping to stop them. She hadn't taken two steps before a large hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled around the edge of the ring. She looked up to see Wrex, who was scowling harder than usual. He didn't look at her as he started to explain:

"Let it go. This has been a long time coming and if they don't have it out, they can't move on with clear heads."

"But they might hurt each other!" Tali exclaimed. She had always known Wrex was a little callous but she didn't think it was this bad.

"They might. But if they don't do this, they won't be able to live, much less fight together." Tali remained silent as Wrex's logic sunk in. She looked on as they through several punches at each other, then Brandon seemed to be trying to turn Garrus. She saw it too late as Brandon tackled Garrus onto the Mako and pinned him.

**********************************ME: The Gift*****************************************

"Say I'm a real soldier!" Brandon shouted, punctuating his sentence with a punch. Garrus took it with a grunt, then tightened his jaw. Brandon scowled, then punched him again.

"Say it!" He shouted. Garrus made his move then. He pushed off the Mako, using it to springboard himself into a body slam. Brandon was knocked back, momentarily stunning him. Garrus grabbed him, pinning Brandon against the Mako.

"You are not a real soldier. You are just a little spoiled rich kid who thinks he can buy himself a real man's job." Garrus said, returning the favor with several punches. Brandon quickly broke free by knocking one of Garrus's arms loose and slipping out. They resumed their boxing match, oblivious to the people and the gambling around them. They fought for what felt like hours, no rules, no holds barred. They pinned each other several times and the other always slipped out while they yelled at each other. Finally, Brandon pinned Garrus and didn't speak as he simply started beating on Garrus's head with heavy blows. Garrus timed his strike with Brandon's recoil and struck. He head-butted Brandon and drew his leg up into the human's groin. Brandon nearly fell over and quickly backed away, tucking himself into a ball to protect his injured parts. Garrus took his time, setting his feet and putting everything he had behind this next punch to end the fight.

"I told you. You aren't a soldier." Garrus quipped and swung. What happened next would become a massively viewed clip on the extranet. Brandon unfolded, throwing his entire body backwards at the knee. Garrus couldn't compensate for his swing's momentum as it pulled him forward. Brandon's hands touched the floor and his feet shot straight up. They met Garrus's jaw with an audible crack. Garrus was launched backwards, landing dazed on his back. Brandon used his momentum to back flip and land.

"I'm an engineer!" He roared. He didn't pause as he threw himself on top of Garrus and started mercilessly pummeling him. The crowd grew silent as Garrus valiantly tried to protect himself from monstrous force of the blows raining down on him, but he couldn't block them all. His head bounced off the floor twice before he felt Brandon's weight move off his body. He looked up to see Shepard had tossed Brandon to Wrex, who was holding him in a body lock.

"Everyone clear out now!" Shepard roared, his anger obvious.

**********************************ME: The Gift*****************************************

Earlier….

Shepard was going over performance reviews with Pressly and Adams when Joker interrupted.

"Shepard, you gotta come quickly!" Joker said, swinging around on his crutches impatiently. Shepard gave a confused look to Adams and Pressly and followed the surprisingly quick Joker to the elevator. Even up a floor they could hear the commotion. They rode down as Shepard silently cursed the elevator's slowness. When the elevators doors opened, Shepard saw a ring of crew members surrounding Brandon and Garrus fighting. He started pushing his way through as Garrus was knocked to the floor. He got through the ring as Brandon pummeled the pinned turian. Shepard couldn't stop himself as he ripped Brandon off of Garrus and threw him in Wrex's direction.

***********************************ME: The Gift****************************************

"Explain yourself." Shepard said tersely, sitting across from Brandon at the table. Brandon winced, adjusting the cloth he held near his broken nose to stem the blood flow.

"It was Garrus's fault. He took our sparring a little too far." Brandon painfully answered, moving his jaw with exaggerated care. The bruises on his face were already apparent and his nose would need to be reset from its current position.

"Yeah, and Santa Claus is going to give you your mother for Christmas." Shepard sarcastically commented, enjoying the sight of Brandon's frustration.

"That's not funny, but I get the point. I took it too far. Garrus may have started it by saying I'm not a real soldier but I didn't let it go and it spiraled out of control." Brandon stated, wincing at his less obvious aches and pains.

"I should really punish you two but you seem to have done it quite well to each other. Though I must say that fight could make for an excellent training vid." Shepard remarked, activating his omni-tool for a replay.

"You saw that?" Brandon inquired, uneasy about watching his loss of control.

"The thing made it onto the extranet. Several million views already. Frankly, you're hand-to-hand is better than most who are your age, or even your rank. Garrus made a mistake by picking the fight."

"Can I go to Dr. Chakwas now?"

"My one condition for the two of you to return to active duty is for you to make up and apologize to each other."

"Thank you sir." Brandon turned and went into Dr. Chakwas's office as Shepard watched the fight on his omni-tool.

************************************ME: The Gift***************************************

"Really, I didn't expect anyone to start a fight, much less get beaten so systematically." Dr. Chakwas said as she treated Garrus's myriad of injuries. Garrus could only grunt in frustration as she turned at the arrival of Brandon. Wrex chuckled at the sight of the winner coming to check on the loser. Tali looked at Brandon, and he wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. Kaidan and Ashley simply sat in the corner and waited to see how this would pan out.

"How's he doing?" Brandon asked, genuinely concerned. Liara came out of her secluded study and looked at Brandon. She'd heard about the fight, and had expected to see Brandon as badly beaten as Garrus. When she saw his only visible wound was his broken nose, she turned to Garrus.

"What happened Garrus, I thought you were the tough C-Sec cop?" Liara teased. Garrus shot her a withering glare and turned to the new arrival. Dr. Chakwas set to work on his broken jaw as she explained the extent of the damage. A cracked skull, a concussion, shattered cheekbones, the broken jaw she was currently working on, four cracked ribs, and some cuts and bruises. Brandon winced sympathetically as he came over to Garrus's side. He bowed his head and squatted to look Garrus in the eyes.

"Garrus, I want to say I'm sorry. I baited you and lost control down there. It wasn't right of me to do what I did and I'm sorry that I didn't try to walk away instead. Can you forgive me?" Brandon said, moving the bloody towel from his nose.

Wrex laughed, "The winner of a fight isn't supposed to apologize, the loser should for wasting the winner's time. That's how it works with krogan."

"Wrex, have you ever considered we aren't all krogan here. Brandon might be able to hit like one, but that's beside the point," Ashley chimed in, glad to have been able to watch the fight in its entirety. She had seen some new moves she wanted to try out in her next sparring session.

"At least he's trying to be the bigger man Wrex, right Ash? You can't fault him for that, can you?" Kaidan inquired. Ashley nodded while Wrex shook his head, resolved that he would never fully understand humans.

Dr. Chakwas finished working on Garrus's jaw and turned to set Brandon's nose. Garrus worked his mandibles to make sure that they were still there and spoke to Brandon.

"I was wrong. You are a real soldier. I just didn't want to admit that someone could always get what they want. I mean look at you, rich, strong, and I would guess human women find you attractive. It's not like living your whole life fighting like I did. If I lost to anyone, I'm glad it was you. Though you have got to tell me how you did it. From my side, it looked like you didn't have try too hard to win."

Brandon yelped, jumping a little as his nose was set back in its place. Dr. Chakwas anchored it so it wouldn't move, and let the medi-gel start the healing process. She noted he barely had a bruise or scratch on him otherwise.

Brandon started to explain, "It was simple really. You don't do a lot of hand-to-hand outside of sparring in C-Sec do you? I can see the answer plain on your face. So your last major bout was back when you were serving with the turian military. I knew you would try to take advantage of your longer reach and turned that against you. You constantly expected to try and mitigate your reach by getting in close, so you weren't expecting me to stay out of reach like I did. You also weren't aware of your surroundings, which made the Mako an excellent support for the initial contact. I knew I didn't have the stamina for an extended fight but you did, so I focused on keeping you on the defensive by taking advantage of my greater strength. You almost got me when you kneed me, but I knew you would overcommit to your final strike. You're kind of a showoff. In the end, your overconfidence in your abilities and my forethought ensured that I would win."

"In simpler terms Garrus, he kicked your ass." Wrex shortened. Garrus shook his head, soaking in the truths that he knew had put him at such a disadvantage. He had to hand it to Brandon, he knew how to prepare for a fight.

Tali finally spoke, confused, "Wait a minute. You two just beat on each other less than an hour ago and yet now you're talking like friends?"

"Sometimes, we all need to vent. Garrus and I did that and we gained some respect for each other along the way. But don't think I'll forget about that knee thing, that's just unsportsmanlike." Brandon replied, looking at Garrus.

"Well it was a street fight, so you can go as dirty as you want." Garrus chuckled. Brandon playfully punched Garrus's shoulder, knowing right where to hit to find a bruise. Garrus winced, then got flustered as everyone laughed.

********************************ME: The Gift*******************************************

"Okay we are a go for Noveria. The Council's sources have noted the arrival of Matriach Benezia en route to a Binary Helix research facility. I'm going to need people who can fight in close combat and a large amount of technical expertise. Tali, you're coming along. And since Garrus is still out from that fight, Brandon, grab your gear. ETA is in ten." Shepard announced to the team during their approach to Noveria. Tali and Brandon went to their equipment lockers and started to armor up while Shepard handed out everyone else's duties for the duration of the mission. With nothing more to do, the shore party could only wait to start the mission.

"SHEPARD! Who the hell taught you to drive?" Brandon screamed as he braced himself in the Mako's turret. He could see the edge of the path was mere inches from their wheels. The Mako finished its turn and came upon an empty straightaway. They finished the approach to Peak 15 unobstructed by any more geth forces. The welcoming party that the squad met quickly dispatched and they continued deeper into the installation, hoping to find more answers. They eventually reached a powered down door that Tali immediately set upon, intent on rebooting the automatics. Brandon and Shepard stepped back, willing to let her work at her own pace.

"If you think driving the Mako is easy, why don't you do it on the way back?" Shepard abruptly asked. Brandon turned, furrowing his brow at the commander.

"No way, no how. I'm not armor-certified and plus it's technically a rental. They are going to charge us to pull out all those geth you left stuck in the fenders." Brandon replied, shaking his head.

"They wouldn't be in the fenders if you shot them before they got that close. And what the heck makes you think that I'm armor-certified?" Shepard playfully asked.

"Commander, you didn't…"

"I did."

"And here I thought I was the only one that didn't understand authority."

"On the bright side, we won't hear Garrus complaining about having to clean the Mako this time."

"If Dr. Chakwas hadn't fixed his jaw, we wouldn't have to hear him regardless."

"That's so mean."

"Expecting anything else?"

"Nope."

"Once again, how do you do that? You guys were ready to kill each other on the Citadel. Now you're joking? I don't understand it." Tali said, finished with the door.

"It's just how guys work. We get angry at each other and work it out quickly. It's just the way guys are. Especially when their friends." Shepard says, surprising both Brandon and Tali. With the door fully active, the squad entered. Geth forces attacked from all sides. Shepard blazed a trail through the center as Tali and Brandon's shotguns protected their flanks. Before long, all the geth lay dead.

"That wasn't that bad. Hey Shepard, did you hear that?" Brandon said, and looked up in time for something to land on him. The thing was easily the size of a man and hissed at the nearby Shepard and Tali. It moved one of its appendages back, lethal intent clear.

Time slowed. Shepard could only watch helplessly as the memories crashed through his mind and swept him away.

*************************************ME: The Gift**************************************

 _Mindoir, 13 years ago_

 _John Shepard looked back at the burning farmhouse, the tears in his eyes blinding him to its starlit silhouette. Everyone other than him and his cousin Silver had been in that house. Silver grabbed him, pulling Shepard deeper into the woods and further away from the fighting. Shepard knew his cousin could get them to the Alliance forces that had landed not far beyond the forest. Silver's Alliance training and gear ensured that they would make it. Silver stopped, releasing Shepard and pausing to listen._

" _Do you hear that?" Silver said before a shadow leaped at him. Shepard could only watch as Silver struggled to fight off the rabid varren that had attacked him. Shepard reached out trying to find something, anything to distract the varren from his cousin. Shepard's hands closed on a long branch as Silver gave a cry. Shepard could just make out that the varren had bitten Silver's neck. The varren turned to Shepard, hunger visible in its eyes even in the darkness. Shepard felt himself snap, he screamed and swung the branch. The varren leaped at Shepard, only to be swatted aside by the branch. The varren hit a nearby tree and lay still. Shepard scrambled over to his cousin, hoping Silver was okay. Silver's eyes were open and met Shepard's as he tried to staunch the blood flow._

" _I'm sorry cousin, it looks like you'll finish this on your own." He said, his voice hoarse._

" _No, no I'm not. You and I are going to get there and we can get them to help us get Mom and Dad and Uncle Steel and…" Shepard said, only to have Silver's hand cover his mouth. His cousin looked straight at Shepard, the light in his eyes already fading._

" _It's up to you Sapphire. Don't let that gem in you go dull. Now go before those bastards catch up." Silver breathed, and heaved his last breath._

 _No! Shepard thought. Don't leave me alone again. Shepard felt himself shut down._

 _The next thing he knew, the sun was up and someone was holding him down in the dirt. He could feel Silver's assault rifle pinned underneath him and he could feel the handcuffs on his wrists._

" _Doc, we got another survivor. Looks real bad, tried to shoot us. See if he's in shock or something!" A faceless voice shouted above him. He felt himself be turned over and saw a woman standing there.  
_

" _I'm Alliance Medical Officer Karin Chakwas. Can you tell me who you are?" the woman asked._

**********************************ME: The Gift*****************************************

A thunderous explosion next to his ear snapped Shepard out his memories. The thing on top of Brandon fell dead next to him as what Shepard assumed was its head exploded. He turned to Tali, and saw the shotgun in her hand slightly smoking and her shaking uncontrollably. He turned back to Brandon, and watched as he got back to his feet. They looked at Brandon and could see the remains of fear being pushed out by relief in his face. He smiled one of his stupid smiles and flicked some gore off his face.

"I think I might need to upgrade my armor." He deadpanned. Shepard moved first. He grabbed Brandon and pulled him into a hug. Brandon stiffened, not expecting to be grabbed in such a way.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again! Don't you dare leave me like Silver did! I lost my family once and I'm not losing it again little brother." Shepard exclaimed as tears that he had held back for so long finally fell. Brandon could only hug him back and reassure as best he could. Tali could only watch as the pieces fell into place in her mind. How had she not noticed? They were so alike, even if they didn't admit it. She should have seen it sooner. When they finally stopped hugging and talking Tali took a tentative step to Brandon. She felt herself slap him more than she actually did it.

"If you wanted my attention so bad, just ask next time." Tali said, not believing she had said that. Brandon's hand covered the slap and he smiled.

"What can I say? I'm overly dramatic." He laughed and then Shepard laughed. Tali joined in as the stress of the moment passed. With all of that taken care of, they turned to the thing that had come so close to killing Brandon. They came to the conclusion it was some kind of insect, which worried Tali. Insects might as well be spiders. The next few minutes blurred as they fought through more of the things and came across some smaller version that looked like spiders. Brandon hesitated to attack the bigger ones, but when Tali flinched at the sight of the small ones, Brandon unloaded as quickly as he could into the beasts. He made a comment about them killing each other's fears and seemed to be over his near-death experience. The rest of the mission blurred as they finally reached their objective.

*********************************ME: The Gift******************************************

Back on the Normandy…

Shepard had finished giving his report to the Council. They hadn't been happy that he had released the Rachni Queen, but he didn't care. He couldn't kill her, she had been as much a victim as Benezia, as Shepard. He didn't want to break the news to Liara about her mother but someone had to. As Shepard entered the med-bay, as saw Brandon leaving Liara's secluded hideaway. He nodded to Shepard and quickly left. Shepard walked in, and saw Liara crying on her makeshift bed.

"I guess he told you?" Shepard asked, carefully sitting on the bed beside Liara. A pause in her sobs told Shepard that he had. Liara pulled herself up and swung herself to the edge of bed, right next to Shepard.

"He told me how you tried so hard to save her but couldn't. He told me that she said she was proud of me. Shepard, I don't know what to do anymore." She put her head on his shoulder, her tears rolling down her cheeks. Shepard didn't respond, only turning so he could pull her into a hug. He didn't know how long he held her, only that she eventually started to hug him back. Eventually she ran out of tears and turned her face to his. He didn't know how it happened, only that their lips met. The sparks he had felt before ignited into a raging fire. After some immeasurable amount of time, they broke off and Shepard took that moment to leave. Liara's fingers lingered on him, but he knew he had to get away so he could think clearly. He walked out of the empty med bay and headed to his room, only to see Brandon, Garrus, and Wrex sitting at the table, looking at Shepard. Brandon said something and they all laughed. Shepard just hurried into his room. He barely had sat down when Brandon came in, a serious look in his eyes.

"What?" Shepard said, his head finally starting to clear.

"We need to talk about the fact that your trauma nearly got me killed." Brandon said, leaning against the wall.

"What?" Shepard repeated, confused.

"When that rachni ambushed me, you could have shot it but you froze and Tali barely pulled the trigger in time. You may think you're fine, but we are going to get this out in the open. What happened that you couldn't do what you needed to?" Brandon accused, trying to reach his brother.

"I had a flashback. To Mindoir. To Silver's…. to someone's death." Sheaprd said. Brandon's crossed arms showed he expected more.

"When we were escaping, Silver got attacked and killed because I wasn't strong enough to save him. When you were pinned, all I saw was Silver dying in front of me again." Shepard's shoulders slumped, defeated. He started when he felt two hands on his shoulders. He looked into Brandon's face, and all he saw was forgiveness.

"You were a kid then. You survived, he didn't. End of story. Whether you could have done something is something to take up with a higher power but listen to me. You. Survived. I survived. We are family and we will see this Saren thing through together, all the way to the end." Brandon had tears in his eyes, and so did Shepard. They embraced, laughed, and wiped away tears and parted. Shepard fell asleep immediately that night, and for once he didn't dream of Mindoir.

***************************************ME: The Gift************************************

 _Rachni everywhere, they had somehow swarmed the entire Normandy. Tali had her shotgun but it had overheated. She turned looking for help only to see Brandon fall under another rachni soldier, and unlike before, this one didn't hesitate to kill him._

Tali woke up, the last vestiges of her nightmare fading. She wanted to sleep, but she knew she wouldn't get anymore with the nightmares. At first, she thought she was crazy when the music started. When it continued, she thought she was still asleep. When it kept going, she knew it was real. She followed her ears to the source, leading her down into the cargo bay. When the elevator opened, she was surprised by what she saw. Brandon was dancing to the music that he was playing on a small keyboard. She watched and waited for him to realize he had an audience. She was surprised by how well Brandon danced to the music he played, keeping in perfect time to the rhythm. He swayed, and twirled the keyboard as though it was his partner. Tali decided she had watched for long enough and cleared her throat. Brandon whirled, surprised at someone else being around. He blushed, realizing that she might have seen what he had been doing.

"How... how long were you standing there?" Brandon asked, hoping she hadn't seen him dancing like that.

"Long enough." Came the reply. His blush got deeper as he realized that Tali had been watching before letting him know that she was there.

"Nightmares keeping you from sleeping?" Brandon asked, seeming to read Tali's mind.

"You too?"

"Of course. I nearly died." Brandon flatly said.

"So why play music?"

"It calms me."

"And the dancing?"

"Uhm, yeah… I, uh, didn't even know I could waltz until I started playing the song." Brandon sheepishly admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"It looked like you needed a partner for that dance. And like you said, I can't sleep either." Tali said, stepping toward Brandon. Brandon's eyes widened and he set the keyboard aside. He took her hands and guided her through the steps, careful not to let himself think of her being that close to him.

"I can put the music back on, if you want." Brandon explained, using it to step away from Tali and try to distance himself from the welling emotions. Three months since they had met and he couldn't help but think he'd been crushing on her ever since. He hit the playback button on the keyboard, and returned to Tali. Together they danced to the music, their surroundings fading as Brandon explained the waltz's origins. They closed their eyes, imagining them dancing in a massive ballroom. She was the young beautiful foreign girl and Brandon was her soldier escort. She could hear the scuff of his leather boots and he could feel the thunderous rhythm as hundreds of couples danced in the ballroom.

In the morning, Ash and Garrus entered the cargo hold to a strange sight. An old electronic keyboard was playing classical music on its own and was not far from Tali and Brandon were sleeping. Brandon was leaning back against the Mako and Tali's head was on his chest and as she lay cuddled in close. Ash and Garrus carefully turned around and left them as quietly as they could.


	7. Chapter 7

"And that's why I wield two shotguns instead of one. Good enough, Garrus?" Brandon teased the turian, very different from their past arguments. In the three weeks since Noveria, the entire Normandy crew had been busy. They had run so many combat missions that the squad members had gone on missions on a rotating basis to keep up with the demands of their bodies. But they had come together like they never had before.

"That's all and good, but what I want to know is what's up with you and the quarian? You two seem to be getting a little… close." Garrus said, watching the blood rush to Brandon's face.

"Whawhahahahawha… What?" Brandon flustered, unable to form words. Brandon became acutely reminded of how small and warm a Citadel elevator is. He turned back to Garrus, hoping to derail the conversation.

"So Garrus, how did it feel to finally nail that doctor? Must've felt pretty good." Brandon deflected, trying to bail himself out.

"It felt pretty good, I will admit. But Shepard taught me a lesson there too. Now back to you, you little sneak," Garrus quickly countered.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. You think no one noticed that little cuddle session you had by the Mako." Garrus smirked, as Brandon's face went from shocked to embarrassed.

"C'mon Shepard, you have to know what's going on with your little brother. Fill me in on the good stuff." Garrus begged, turning to a smiling Shepard. Shepard shook his head, laughter building in his throat.

"He doesn't tell me what he gets up to with her. What I do know is that he is writing her a song." Shepard smirked, happy to play the part of the older antagonizing brother. Brandon became even redder and groaned, trying to cover his face.

"Look at him, he's blushing so hard he has to be in love." Shepard pointed out as Brandon's ears turned scarlet.

"Shepard!" Brandon burst, rushing at Shepard like an angry child. Shepard caught his little brother, putting him in a headlock and wrestling him into a powerless position. They laughed as Brandon struggled, squealing like a pig stuck in a small doorframe.

"Garrus! Help! He's giving me a noogie!" Brandon cried out, his head burning from Shepard's armored knuckles. Garrus didn't reply, he couldn't stop laughing to even attempt to respond. Finally Shepard dropped Brandon and joined in Garrus' laughter as the elevator stopped in C-Sec headquarters. By the time they were on the elevator to the embassy entrance, Brandon was laughing alongside them. With a final shared guffaw, the three calmed down and tried to look professional in case anyone was watching their elevator.

"The only reason I'm asking is after Noveria I saw you and her cuddling by the Mako. And don't tell me I didn't actually see it, because a lot of people did but I'm the only one to call you on it." Garrus said, eager to gossip.

"Tali and I were not cuddling Garrus, we were… exhausted. Neither of us could sleep so we…" Brandon started to explain, only to be cut off by Garrus.

"So you started sweet-talking her. C'mon, we all know it. You and Tali sitting in the engine room together. All that time you and her spend alone. I think it's adorable, our two shotgun-wielding tech-heads falling in love." Garrus sappily said, even making kissy-faces to accompany his ridicule. Brandon prepared to fire back at Garrus, only to be stopped by the elevator doors opening. They proceeded to the embassy reception area, waiting for Ambassador Udina to call them in.

"What do you think is for?" Brandon asked, fidgeting from his seemingly ceaseless energy.

"My money's on someone filed a complaint about you. Wrex and Kaidan think you're up for an award for actually making it back to the Alliance. Ash thinks you're getting transferred as your superior officer now has a conflict of interest with you." Garrus casually noted, calmly running his hands over his armor. Brandon's eyes widened, surprised. Shepard shrugged, totally nonchalant.

"Frankly, Joker and I are betting you're up for a promotion. If we're right, there is going to be enough money for an awesome shore leave for the whole crew tomorrow." Shepard soothingly explained. Brandon settled deeper into his seat, his leg bouncing with even more energy than before. When the receptionist told them they could head up, Brandon practically sprinted to the door. Shepard was surprised by what he saw next. Admiral Hackett, Commander of the Fifth Fleet, was waiting inside.

"Gentleman, welcome. You may be wondering why I've called you down here." Hackett started, pacing as the squad took up inspection positions.

"At ease boys. This isn't an inspection or a disciplinary hearing." Hackett turned as Garrus snapped his fingers in frustration.

"Then what is it for, sir?" Brandon inquired. Even in the presence of heroes he couldn't stop being himself.

"You were on the ground team for the Noveria mission, weren't you Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir."

"Have you ever faced anything close to that before?"

"No sir."

"Good, because an N7 has to be ready for anything." Hackett turned to Udina, signaling him to step forward.

"Sir?" Brandon asked, at a loss of words. Udina stepped up to him, scowling as usual, handed him an N7 insignia letter and slapped a temporary N7 onto his armor.

"The only thing missing from your coursework was the adaptive frontline combat. You are now N7, meaning you are the best of the best. You are humanity's sword and shield. It will be an honor to watch you as you accomplish great things Lieutenant." Hackett saluted, then turned to his beeping communicator. As he read the incoming message, his expression turned serious.

"We'll have to put a rain-check on your shore leave Commander. Exogeni is reporting that their Feros colony is under attack by geth. Go and find out what the hell is going on there, now." Hackett looked up, intense eyes focused on Shepard. Without a word of dismissal, the squad sprinted back to the elevators. As they cursed the machine's slowness, nothing had seemed to sink in to any of them yet. As they raced to the airlock of the Normandy, it finally hit them.

Garrus slapped Brandon on the back, congratulating him on finally "being a real soldier". Shepard gave Brandon a quick brotherly hug for his accomplishment but hurried through the airlock to take his position at the command station. Garrus and Brandon hurried down to the cargo bay and took up their positions. Everyone noticed the new patch on Brandon's armor but didn't say a thing. When Tali inquired, all he said was he would tell her later. Before long, the Normandy was underway.

***************************************ME: The Gift****************************

"Feros, a planet-wide ruin by any other name would be just as foreboding." Brandon recited, eyes scanning the ancient architecture around him. The sense of lost history and death hung in the air from the broken skyscrapers.

"Scared of a few giant pieces of rock?" Sheaprd said, sweeping the walkways for any signs of geth. Tali came out of the airlock, completing the shore party. She activated her omni-tool, trying to reach the settlement. An armed settler peeked up over a crate, and stepped out in front of the squad.

"Thank goodness you're here! Fai Dan is waiting…" He spoke, cut off by a bullet entering his chest. The squad turned, opening fire on the de-cloaked geth that had appeared. The machine fell in a hail of fire.

"Looks like there's nowhere to go but up." Brandon pointed, implying the large gate and the ascending stairs. Without another word the squad advanced, weapons pointed at any possible vantage point. As they continued upward, more geth attempted to ambush them until they reached the makeshift settlement. They were surprised at how many people there were, considering the reports.

 _Unknown pathogen detected; Projecting immune response to prevent surface infection,_ the machine voice droned in Brandon's head. Brandon grunted as he felt his skin crawl. When the feeling didn't go away, he just decided he would bear it. Shepard noticed that Brandon seemed disturbed, but didn't comment as he continued his talk with Fai Dan, the de facto leader of the settlers. When the geth pushed their offensive along the skyway, Shepard led the team to protect the settlement defenders and to the Exogeni headquarters. When the Mako rolled out across the skyway, Brandon moved to the turret, gunning down the geth as they tried to stop the squad. As Shepard drove, he felt himself start to hum to the staccato fire of the turret. When Shepard realized what he was humming, he turned on his communicator to berate Brandon.

"Why are you playing 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy'? Seriously, why and how are you using a machine-gun to play that?" Shepard inquired as more geth fell to the turret's fire. Brandon answered in the silence between volleys.

"With a lot of skill. Since you clearly don't like my selection, would you prefer 'Ode to Joy' or 'Also Sprach Zarathustra'?" Brandon calmly replied as Shepard ran over several smaller geth.

"Are all humans this insane or is it just this crew?" Tali half-screamed, her fingers flying as she tried to keep the Mako's shields up under the barrage of geth fire.

"That's a matter of opinion." Brandon called back, smiling. The Mako cleared the last patch of geth resistance and they began to hear something through the geth interference. They stopped outside a small gap in the rubble, following a strengthening radio signal. They found a ramp that led down into a makeshift shelter. They were surprised to find several employees of Exogeni taking cover there. After a brief discussion with the survivors, they set out to destroy the geth ship still docked on the Exogeni building.

As they continued their drive down the skyway, Brandon decided he was going to play "Ride of the Valkyries" to "speed them on their way". When they reached the building they descended into the blasted ruins and discovered Lizbeth Banyam after she nearly shot Shepard. After a quick discussion with her and defeating a pack of varren the squad came across a VI terminal and a krogan unsuccessfully attempting to access the Exogeni database. After they killed the krogan and accessed the VI, they found out where the geth ship's docking clamp was anchored on the building and started deeper into the building. When they came across some geth who appeared to be praying to something.

"You know, normally I would just shoot them, but this… it seems so irreverent." Brandon exclaimed, lowering his shotguns as he circled the geth, who didn't move at Brandon's presence. Tali and Shepard stood back further, wary of the possible threat.

"The geth worship the Reapers as the pinnacle of machine life. This must be some kind of shrine to them." Tali explained, her weapon still pointed at the closest geth. Brandon shot her a sarcastic look, then moved to his position behind the furthest geth. Shepard moved to the middle, his weapon primed on his geth target.

"3, 2, 1…" Shepard counted, followed closely by three simultaneous shots. The geth fell dead, their heads gone. The squad then moved on, fighting more active geth en-route to the clamp. At the clamp, they found that they don't have enough explosives, requiring an alternative.

"I say we just blow up the structural support that the anchoring clamp is in." Brandon voted, eyes never leaving the ship's claw.

"Considering it's in the building's central support and they are jamming radio frequencies, we would need to manually detonate and then somehow escape before the building totally collapses. We need the Normandy to take this ship down." Tali rebutted, shooting down Brandon's idea. Shepard didn't speak, intensely focused on some nearby computers. The puzzle pieces clicked together in his mind, the solution obvious.

"We need to use the docking shield. Look, the thing is suffering from an overclocked mechanism. If we use it correctly, it should shear off the support and destabilize the whole ship's position, causing it to fall and be destroyed." Shepard pointed out, recapturing the attention of the two engineers. They could only stare at the commander in sheer astonishment.

"I am officially impressed Commander. I wouldn't have thought of it." Brandon commented before moving to reactivate the consoles while Tali moved to make sure that the squad wasn't going to be ambushed. Shepard used the now active consoles to quickly overload the shield and send it through the docking clamp's arm. As the ship fell, the building groaned and settled while the radio static cleared. Shepard filled in Joker as best he could after getting the pilot to calm down about the infected and angry colonists.

With the situation temporarily taken care of, the squad fought their way out to the Mako and Lizabeth Banyam. As they hurried back to the Exogeni bunker position, they heard an exchange between the chief of security and Banyam's mother. The tense situation nearly erupts until Shepard sets everyone at ease with his natural charm and business sense. With that settled, the Exogeni workers gave the squad a special nerve agent to stun the colonists without harming them. The ride back to the colony was slowed by the remaining geth forces. Within seconds of arriving at the colony's garage, the colonists and horrific Thorian-controlled zombies attacked the squad. They put down the zombies and safely stunned the colonists as they moved to the entrance to the Thorian's lair. The squad watched as Fai Dan killed himself so he wouldn't fight them. With the shadow of Fai Dan's actions around them, the group descended and prepared for a fight.

The further they descended, the more Brandon's skin crawled until he could see a kind of mist being projected from gaps in his armor. The others decided not to ask quite yet as they finally entered the Thorian's home and saw how massive it was. The squad were surprised as the Thorian expelled a green asari that threatened them and tried to kill them. The squad quickly dispatched her and started to attack the root-like things anchoring the Thorian to the walls. As they fought and killed the various minions of the Thorian, they circled the room and finally killed it, causing it to release an asari it had been holding captive. She introduced herself as Shiala and explained why Saren had come to the Thorian. When Shepard asked about the Cipher, Shiala agreed to give it to him and when the exchange was done, Shepard decided to let Shiala help the people of the colony. After helping the colonists finish up some minor issues, the team left, happy to know that the colonists and the colony would continue to thrive and recover.

**************************************ME: The Gift*****************************

Back on the Normandy, the crew were treated to the news that they had officially been given a week of shore leave on the Citadel. As the rest of the crew celebrated, the squad members met and discussed the repercussions of Saren's head start. With Liara's help, Shepard tried to decipher the vision, but he came no closer to understanding it. With the report filed and the crew all healthy, Shepard got the official announcement of shore leave on the Citadel. Using the intercom, he announced to the crew that shore leave would start once they got back and would go for the next week. The Normandy felt buoyed by the crew's cheers as Joker raced back to the Citadel.

*************************************ME: The Gift******************************

Four days later…..

Shore leave so far had been amazing for Shepard. Just him and Liara, alone, as the crew had their fun. The two finally had enough time for each other and no worries. For a while, Shepard could forget that there was a madman trying to destroy the galaxy. When he took Liara to Flux so they could dance, he was surprised to see the whole crew had apparently come to Flux to celebrate together. There went his secret. After a few friendly drinks and the expected barrage of questions, Shepard and Liara hit the dance floor, happy to just be around each other. But when he looked away from Liara between songs, he became sad when his eyes came across his brother. Brandon was sitting alone in one of the darker booths, a frown stuck to his normally smiling face. Turning back to Liara, he noticed that she was also looking at someone not having fun. Tali was also alone, doing her best not to get noticed by security, or anyone in general. Liara locked eyes with Shepard, and they knew what they had to do. Shepard moved towards his brother, while Liara strode straight to Tali.

"You can't just sulk on such a fun night." Shepard said, trying to get Brandon to respond. Brandon's eyes flicked to Shepard, then down to his drink.

"Alright, who are you and what have you done with my wild, fun-loving brother?" Sheaprd teased, earning a half-smile from Brandon.

"It's more like who am I trying to hide from. While everybody else was having fun, I've been working." Brandon said as Shepard sat down next to him.

"You know shore leave means you don't work."

"I was working at my other job. You know, heir and current head of a massive business conglomerate. I just came here to hide from all the paperwork for a while."

"That's no fun, but neither is moping about it." Brandon shrugged, then went back to nursing his drink. Shepard looked over at Liara, who seemed to be doing as well as he was at getting Tali to join in.

"Okay then mopey, I didn't want to do this, but you made me. I'm ordering you to dance with Tali." Brandon's stunned silence told Shepard all he needed.

"No buts, complaints, or hesitations. You two have something and only you two don't see it. Look at her, she's sitting out and missing all the fun because she's too shy to try it alone." Shepard grabbed Brandon and pointed, just as Liara and Tali turned to them. Brandon flushed, feeling the familiar ache that he got whenever he looked at Tali.

"But I-I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because… because I can't. We work together and if something goes wrong…" Brandon stuttered, his hands shaking as they rolled over each other.

"It's obvious you like her, you told me that yourself. You can't tell me you won't act. If you don't try, you'll never know. Sometimes the greatest risk has the greatest reward."

"You sound so corny right now, but I hate it when you're right!" Brandon angrily jumped to his feet. He turned to Shepard and said, "But only if you and Liara are dancing nearby in case I need help."

"Wouldn't have it any other way little brother. Someone has to chaperone you anyways." They got up and started towards the girls. As they approached, the girls rose to meet them. Without a word, Brandon took Tali's hand and led her to dance floor. The whole crew went silent as they watched the two move through the group. Once on the dance floor, Brandon turned back to Tali, who was clearly as nervous as he felt. He swallowed, trying to keep the butterflies from making him silent.

"I know you're nervous. I am too, but Shepard convinced me I needed to do the right thing and make sure you have a good time." Brandon said, barely audible over the music. Luckily, the song was ending.

"But all these people and the crew…" Tali nervously replied, her hands wringing under the stress.

Brandon took her hands in his own, and looked into her eyes as best he could, "Just worry about yourself. It's just you, me, and the music. Like in the cargo bay and all those other times."

As a new song started, Brandon took the lead, dancing around Tali so she could only focus on him and his movements. Tali felt herself be pulled with him as they danced like they had so many times in secret. The two didn't notice as Shepard and Liara slipped away while the crew cheered them on. They didn't hear as Shepard put in a few requests to the DJ or as the crew started chanting their names. When the music finally cut away, the two stopped in confusion. When they finally became aware of their surroundings, they noticed that no one else was dancing, only watching them. When the whole club started clapping, Tali was surprised as Brandon held her hand and led her into a graceful bow and didn't let go of her hand. As the music resumed and others started dancing too, Tali and Brandon hurried off to the crew's whistles and cheers. Brandon led her back to his hidden booth as the crew lost sight of them in the crowd. They sat down, breathing heavily from the exertion.

"That was crazy!" Tali said, not believing she had done that. Dancing in public with a human, especially a crowded and popular nightclub was only something she could have dreamed of before the Normandy.

"So it's not just humans that are crazy, huh?" Brandon joked, pouring himself another drink from his bottle. At least the turians knew how to make alcohol.

"Considering you're the one who convinced me to do it, I think it's just you." Tali playfully shoved him, just happy that the crew couldn't find them. With their secluded vantage point, they could see the whole club but most people wouldn't be able to see the table, much less them.

"You want any? It's quarian-safe turian brandy." Brandon offered, noticing that she was becoming more uncomfortable now that they had time to think about what they had done.

"You know they're not going to leave us alone after that, right?" Tali asked, accepting the drink and grabbing a straw from a small cluster on the table. _At least they provide induction ports for quarians_ , Tali thought.

"Well, they were going to talk anyways. Besides it's not like they saw anything serious. Just two friends dancing, right?"

"Right."

"The one thing I don't get it why they all seem to think we belong together."

"Maybe it has to do with us joining at the same time?"

"Or both of is being roughly the same age?"

"Or because we both work in engineering?"

"According to Garrus, we're 'adorable shotgun-wielding tech-heads.' His words, not mine."

"Is that all it is, because we're so alike? I mean we're totally different. I'm a quarian and you're a human."

"I'm a fully trained combat engineer and spec ops soldier. You're a girl out in the galaxy for her Pilgrimage."

"Right, we both have important duties to uphold for the sake of our people."

"Eventually, you have to go back to the Migrant Fleet and finish your Pilgrimage. I have to go back to being the head of a bunch of companies, meaning we're both have duties to prevent us from forming any relationships at this time."

"Not to mention we're so incompatible. You can barely be serious even when your life depends on it."

"You constantly forget how to have fun."

"You speak without thinking."

"You try not to offend people."

"You take too many risks."

"You don't take chances."

"You know I took a chance joining this crew. I could have just left and you could have been stuck in a human prison for deserting."

"You're right. I'm sorry. There's simply no way we would work as a couple." Brandon looked down at his drink, and realized that there were more bottles on the table. Where did they come from? Brandon thought. He turned back to Tali, instantly becoming lost in her silvery gaze. How could he not have feelings for someone so beautiful and astonishing?

"You know you're beautiful, right?" Brandon felt himself say, surprised that he admitted it.

"Did you just say what I think you said?"

"You and I both know I did. And before you argue that I don't know what I'm talking about, just listen. You are kind, selfless, gentle, smart, and a million things that I will never be, never could hope to be. So believe me when I say that you're wholly beautiful, even if you have to hide some of that beauty behind your envirosuit. You are beautiful and I could never do anything to deserve you." Brandon finished, then sank back into the booth as Tali sat in silence.

"You think I'm beautiful?"

"I think I just explained that. Unless the alcohol's getting to me."

"Well, if that's the case then I guess I should tell you why you are attractive."

"Forget how much I drank, how much have you had?"

"At least give me the courtesy of listening. You are funny, spontaneous, you are always positive, you give of yourself without thought, and I find you rather cute, for a human. But you seem to live with some imposed burden. You have all this potential, and you waste in your fear of not knowing who you were. It doesn't matter now, because I like who you are now, missing past and terrible sense of humor and all."

"I-I…Wow. Tali, that was… I've never been… Thank you. Thank you."

"Now hurry up and kiss her!" They jumped as Garrus finally spoke up. They didn't know how much that he had heard, only that he was there. The turian had somehow managed to seat himself across from them, completely avoiding detection. Brandon didn't even know how he ended up sitting so close to Tali that there was room for another person at the booth.

"Garrus, you ass!" Brandon cried, throwing a wild punch at the turian. Garrus slid on his seat and let Brandon fall over instead of taking the hit.

"You know if I hadn't ordered more bottles for you two, you never would have gotten to this point. So hurry up before the brandy finishes its job."

"Garrus, why would you do that?"

"Don't worry about it. Now hurry up before the moment is over."

"Whatever moment you are talking about Garrus, is already over." Tali stated coldly as she left the table. Brandon felt shame build in his chest as he watched her leave. He also took the opportunity to get a free shot on the turian. The turian winced as Brandon smacked his shoulder, right about where some shrapnel was still embedded from their last mission together.

"You're an idiot."

"You couldn't talk to her about your feelings until you had four bottles in you."

"Then we're both idiots. But you, you gotta help me get back to my apartment, 'cause I can't feel my legs anymore."

******************************ME: The Gift*************************************

The next day…

Tali regretted drinking with Brandon. She hadn't had more than a few glasses, but she could feel the hangover. The worst part; she regretted not regretting telling Brandon that she thought he was cute. She had heard that humans that drink a lot quickly forget everything that happened while they were drinking. She could only hope it was true. With two more days of shore leave, she was afraid she would have to prepare to avoid Brandon until she could leave to finish her Pilgrimage. She couldn't stop stressing and worrying about it until she went to find Liara. Luckily, Liara was in her office instead of with Shepard.

"Liara, I need some help." Tali asked, and Liara motioned for her to sit down.

"So, how'd it go? We all left after you two disappeared. And your demeanor…What did he do?"

"Brandon got drunk."

"Oh no, what did he say? Was he mean?"

"No, he said that I was beautiful."

"I told you he likes you. What happened next?"

"I told him how I felt." Liara started to squeal happily, and started bouncing up and down.

"I knew it! We all knew it! So are you two official yet?"

"No."

"Did he not want to? Is that why you seem so sad."

"No, he was a perfect gentleman, it's just… Garrus showed up and tried to get Brandon to kiss me."

"After this, I'm having a talk with Garrus. That was rude of him to barge in on you two."

"That's not even the issue. What if Brandon can't understand the risks of us having any kind of relationship? What if something goes wrong and we don't work as a couple? What if… what if he doesn't really love me?" Tali dejectedly explained, her shoulders slumping in defeat. She felt Liara's hand on her shoulder.

"Tali, if he didn't understand what he was getting into, he isn't the guy who has been on this crew for the past few months. From what I've seen, you two belong together, you're perfect for each other!"

"You mean like you and Shepard?"

"Yes. And because of that, I know that what you two have love waiting if you both stop denying yourselves."

Tali stood up, suddenly emboldened by Liara. She thanked her and quickly left, intent on finally saying what she needed to say. She only hoped she could find Brandon in time.

**********************************ME: The Gift*********************************

The pounding in Brandon's head wasn't going to go away with all the people he had to deal with. The worst part about being on shore leave was that the business mosquitos, the men that he was required to see to keep the businesses working. He refused to consider them dangerous enough to be called sharks, screw the metaphor. These people buzzing around him, making him read all their briefs and make all the decisions that he could while he wasn't on military time, were taking what little patience he had. When he finally managed to subdue their buzzing and racing around his head, all he could think about was last night. He had finally said something he had been feeling since the moment he had met her. From the moment he woke up, he knew he had to tell her fully how he felt, but Garrus had screwed that up. He doubted Tali would ever want to see him again. If he could, he would take back that night entirely, even if it meant not saying what he needed to say. He knew his feelings would have found their way out eventually, and he knew they would have come too late. And what he knew hurt his heart more than any headache.

He pushed himself out of the office, past the suited mosquitos and ran for the Normandy.

***********************************ME: The Gift********************************

To say they were both lost was an understatement, Brandon arrived at an empty Normandy while Tali met a less than friendly secretary. They both started running again, trying to think of where the other could be.

*********************************ME: The Gift**********************************

After an hour of running, Brandon felt defeated in every sense of the word. He felt something less than comfortable underneath him, most likely a bench. All he wanted was a simple chance to explain. Too bad the hangover was draining so much of his energy.

******************************ME: The Gift*************************************

After close to two hours of strategically searching for Brandon, Tali came to the conclusion that he didn't want to be found. _He probably feels ashamed of how he acted,_ Tali thought darkly. She started looking for a place to sit, as she felt exhausted after crisscrossing the Citadel and Presidium so many times. She saw a seat next to a snoring businessman, who looked ready to topple from his perch on the two-person bench. As she sat down, she realized the human was not as old she had expected. It took her only a moment to put it together and start shaking him awake.

****************************ME: The Gift*************************************

Apparently dreams can come true, Brandon groggily thought. He had closed his eyes for a moment and now Tali was on the bench next to him.

"I want to tell you something." The said in unison. The two took a moment to blunder over who would speak first, until Tali asserted herself.

"I'm willing to give this a chance if you are." Brandon was stunned by her forwardness. _Shy my overly-professional shoes_ , he thought.

"You mean us, you want to give… us… a chance?"

"Yes. Liara pointed out to me, that much like her and Shepard, we seem to have what you humans call 'love at first sight', though you were covered in tubes and slime the first time I saw you."

"Tali, there are a lot of things that stand in the way of us. You have you're…. Well, you're you. And I'm me."

"Is the man who I have seen make three coding languages unable to understand what a relationship actually is?"

"No, it's not that. It's… I have a duty to perform and you have your people." Tali's head lowered, the sting of rejection priming in her heart. However, she heard his tone change as he continued.

"But as you told me, I need to stop being that person and be me. So if you want to do this, I will. Because I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind." Tali looked up into Brandon's beaming smile, knowing exactly what he was saying. They leaned in, choosing to keep their words close enough to be heard only by them.

"I see you finally watched 'Fleet and Flotilla'," Tali whispered, ensuring that only Brandon could hear her now.

"What else would I do if you told me to? Part of love is being dutiful." Brandon whispered back, their foreheads touching each other for the briefest of moments. They both knew the quarian understanding of this gesture was a human kiss, and so pulled back for a moment. Brandon leaned in quickly, and planted a soft kiss on Tali's mouthpiece and then several more on her faceplate. Tali could only accept them, silently cursing her weak immune system for preventing her from returning the favor. Each touch of his was pure electricity to her, filling her with energy and an indescribable ache. Brandon continued, gently stroking her hands, back, and neck as he lavished her with his attention. It took them some time to realize that the general roar of the Presidium was fading.

They realized then that their section of the Presidium had gone quiet. They turned and looked into the silent stares of dozens of people from all races. The two lovers, as Brandon decided to think of them as, exchanged a momentary glance before sprinting in the direction of the Normandy. The crowd took a second to respond, the shock making them lethargic. Brandon and Tali didn't even want to look at the crowd anyways.

****************************ME: The Gift**************************************

The last two days of shore leave were spent cooped up on the Normandy, safe from reporters. When Shepard had initially found the two as he prepared to leave the Normandy, he hadn't been ready for them to run up, grab him, and push him back through the airlock. He hadn't even turned to them before he heard the sound of the mob outside. He gave Brandon his best "WHAT-DID-YOU-DO?" look and left it at that. As he left them sitting near the airlock, he couldn't help but smile:

"Yep. Totally worth it."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Yeah... this chapter is... I really don't know what happened here, but hey feel free to let me know. Review with criticism or whatever and I'll do my best to meet expectations.**


	8. Chapter 8

**First off, this is a sad excuse for a chapter but I'm working on a three-parter for Ilos and the final battle.**

* * *

 **One month later…**

For once, Brandon could say something wasn't his fault. Okay, maybe he made it worse trying to fix it, but that didn't mean it was his fault.

"Anything Garrus? There's still no power to rear axle." Brandon called out from under the Mako.

"How about you undo whatever you just did, at least then the axle had power." Garrus replied from the Mako's engine compartment. Brandon slid out, sitting on the scooter to continue talking to Garrus.

"Then the thing wouldn't be able to go anywhere! You know the axle's controls got reversed after hitting… whatever you hit with the Mako this time."

"Chalk it up to your brother, he's a sucky driver."

"Can't argue with that."

"Hey! Less talking, more working!" Ashley hollered from atop the auto-missile mechanism. Kaidan pulled himself out of the Mako, quickly followed by Tali. Brandon winked at Tali, then slid back under the Mako's body.

"We're all done on the inside. Tali upgraded the shields and I got the thrusters to stop misfiring." Kaidan explained, satisfaction clear on his face.

"You guys had the easy parts. And if you're done, then lend a hand. We never know when we'll need this thing again." Garrus grumbled, then yelped as an engine part pinched his hand.

"I'll help Brandon!" Tali exclaimed, quickly sliding under the Mako next to her boyfriend. Kaidan circled the Mako and then climbed up next to Ashley. Garrus could only grumble as Wrex watched from his side of the cargo bay.

"Done!" Brandon called out a few minutes later. He and Tali scurried off, heading for the elevator. When the two had disappeared, the remaining squad took a break to share a collective sigh.

"It's almost too sweet. I'm regretting my hand in this." Garrus stated, looking to the other humans for confirmation. Apparently they weren't as open about their opinions as he was.

"Oh come on, you're just mad that Brandon has a girlfriend and you didn't ask out that doctor when we were on shore leave." Kaidan replied. Garrus threw a wrench at Kaidan, who deftly knocked it aside with a bit of biotics.

"Frankly, I just find it strange that Brandon has been so…lovesick. I mean seriously, I didn't think I would see the day that he recited poetry. Quite poorly I might add." Ashley responded, ignoring the near-miss of the flying wrench.

"Please tell me you have videos. Please." Garrus begged, not believing a word of it. When Ashley nodded and sent him a copy, Garrus could barely hold back his laughter. This was too much for him.

"Let's just let them live a little. He's happy and so is she. And if the kid has any issues, he's grown up enough to take care of it himself." Wrex explained, shocking the others. The krogan had been so quiet, no one had actually noticed his presence. Which really worried them, considering Wrex was… well, Wrex.

"That was… profound Wrex. Wasn't expecting that." Garrus said. Wrex shrugged and silently walked over to help Garrus finish the repairs on the Mako's engine.

***************************ME: The Gift************************************************

"Shepard, we have found Saren's base. The team sent to scout and report back sent a distress call." The asari Councilor told Shepard as her hologram flickered. Shepard was surprised to hear that. A month of following dead ends and random missions and now they knew where Saren was holed up. Shepard took a moment to thank them and then promptly hung up. _Thank God for intercoms_ , Shepard thought. With a simple press of a button and a few words, the entire combat squad was assembled for debriefing. And Tali was sitting next to Brandon, holding his hand. He should be happy for his brother, but it still made Shepard jealous. He couldn't exactly lead the meeting with Liara next to him, so he settled for using her chair as his podium. Liara took advantage of his position and held onto his hand as he took control of the situation.

"Okay, we've got him. A team of salarians STG located Saren's base on Virmire. Our job is to rendezvous with them and if at all possible, apprehend Saren before he escapes again. Wrex & Garrus, you two are with me on this one. Everyone else, be ready for a ground assault after we meet up with the salarians." Shepard ordered and then the squad dispersed. All except Liara, who took advantage of everyone leaving to steal a kiss from Shepard. Shepard hated to watch her go, but he had some more things to do before the mission. Sometimes life isn't that fair.

********************************ME: The Gift*******************************************

"Let's do this guys!" Shepard told his copilots in the Mako. Garrus opened fire while Wrex grunted an affirmative. They knew they needed to destroy the AA guns before the Normandy could land and rendezvous with the STG team. A few clearing blasts and they were off to deactivate the guns. Each time they stopped and wrecked the enemy defenses with an almost casual air. They had been fighting together so long that they already knew how to anticipate what the others would do. Within a half-hour they were finished and the Normandy was landing at the STG camp. Shepard pulled up, and began to look for the leader of the salarians.

Brandon was over with one salarians asking questions about their current equipment; Tali was working their communications specialist to try and cut through the interference; Garrus quickly found the group's sniper and now they were taking potshots at geth drones from the cliff; Liara started going through the STG databases, adding things to their and the Normandy's databanks; Kaidan and Ash stood off a bit, directing Normandy crew members who were hurrying through the camp; Wrex just stood off to the side, watching the chaotic circus go on around him.

"Commander Shepard, glad you could make it. We found Saren's main base of operations. We will need your support to mount a proper offensive now that the krogan breeding facilities are operating." Captain Kirrahe told him. Wrex glided in front of Shepard with surprising grace and leaned down to look the salarians in the face.

"Saren has krogan breeding? How. Is. That. Possible?" Wrex enunciated to try and intimidate the captain. To his credit, Kirrahe didn't flinch.

"Saren has created a cure for the genophage. Something we have to destroy."

"No. We can't destroy the only thing that can save my people from extinction."

"Even when the rachni were the immediate danger, the krogan were a mistake to…" Wrex cut off the salarians with a growl.

"We are not a mistake!" Wrex stormed off and went to the edge of the camp, shooting his shotgun into the air.

"I suggest you do something about the krogan while I try to come up with a plan." Kirrahe told Shepard before turning to talk to his men. Kaidan and Ashley walked up to Shepard, looking in Wrex's direction.

"You might want to talk to him Commander." Kaidan offered and Ashley shook her head.

"If you go over there, I'm going to be watching for any signal to put him down." Ash told Shepard as the commander started to walk towards Wrex. He turned back, a look of fury directed at Ash.

"You will do no such thing, understood?" Shepard told her with a deadly calm in his voice. A quick nod from the gunnery chief ensured he was understood. He went over to Wrex, ready to talk to the old warrior.

Shepard, Garrus, and Wrex were in position waiting for the salarians signal. Talking to Wrex hadn't been hard. The krogan understood that this was necessary, but he said he didn't have to like it. Kirrahe's plan to hit the facility with the salarians serving as a distraction for Shepard's squad to infiltrate. On the signal from Ashley who was with the salarians, Shepard and his two friends surged out of hiding and set to work. As they went, they could hear the salarians intermittently asking for any assistance they could give. And they gave it all they could. Satellite uplinks, refueling depots, and even alarm systems were destroyed to buy the salarians the advantage.

By the time they got into the facility, practically nothing stood between them and Saren's office. After meeting Ranna, the asari secretary, and having her open the office they advanced towards Saren's inner sanctum. When they found the Prothean beacon, Shepard activated it, reliving the vision in its complete form. They talked to Sovereign, finding out the flagship of their enemy was an actual Reaper. After deactivating the final defenses of the hideout, Shepard led his squad to the Normandy rendezvous point. After getting through the few enemy squads between them and the landing zone, Shepard was surprised as the rest of the squad looked ready to join the fight. When Ashley radioed in the salarians' distress, Shepard didn't say a word as Brandon, Tali, and Liara followed him and his squad. As they made their way to the AA gun, they heard and watched as Geth dropship landed back with Kaidan and the bomb. Shepard stopped running as he activated his radio.

"Kaidan, get out of there!" Shepard ordered.

"I can't. Geth are all over the place. But I have to do something first." Came the response.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure this bomb goes off, no matter what. Now go Commander, save Ash."

"That's not your call Kaidan. LT go get him." Ash interrupted their argument. Shepard stepped to a railing nearby, the decision weighing him down. A hand slapped down on his shoulder, shaking him free of his moral contemplations.

"We got this Shepard. Go get Kaidan." Brandon told him, leading Tali and Liara to the elevator bank to the AA tower. Shepard looked at his two remaining squadmates.

"They'll be fine." Garrus told him. With that reassurance Shepard led the charge back to the bomb site. He could hear Brandon giving orders intermittently over the radio as he approached the bomb site. Shepard wiped out the geth that were laying siege to Kaidan's position. Once they were wiped out, Saren showed up. Shepard tried to convince Saren that they could work together to stop the Reapers, but it didn't work. Saren attacked, forcing them to fight.

"Incoming!" Brandon shouted over the radio, only to be cut off as the channel cut out. Primal fear and anger filled Shepard, spurring him on as he fought against Saren. He eventually forced the rogue Spectre to land his platform and come after Shepard in person. Saren grabbed Shepard, ready to finish him, only to pause. This gave Shepard the opening he needed to punch Saren and force him to escape. With Saren scared off and the other squads not responding, Shepard called in an evac from the Normandy. As he helped Kaidan up the ramp, Shepard saw the salarians, Ash, and Brandon's squad all waiting for them. As Shepard finished getting the others onboard, Joker warned them to brace themselves as they outraced the impending explosion. With the base destroyed, the crew gathered to debrief.

"That was… challenging. But everyone managed to work together, and because of it, we're all still here." Shepard opened the meeting with. When no one said anything, he continued, "But now we have a much bigger issue. We know what Saren is planning, but we still need to find out where this Conduit is. Liara, if you could..?"

Liara took her cue to meld minds with Shepard again. After she finished, she confirmed that the place they needed to get to was Ilos. With the debriefing done, Joker patched the Council through.

"Shepard, we've read your teams' reports. Return to the Citadel for a discussion." The Counciors told him before hanging up. Shepard was shocked, especially since they hadn't tried to question his motives, or anything for that matter. Without a thought, he told Joker to head back to the Citadel ASAP.


	9. Chapter 9

"So Commander, there's still time to join the betting pool over whether Ambassador Asshole was in his office or not." Joker told Shepard, his playful grin flashing blue against the light of the jump from the mass relay near the Citadel.  
"I think we've done enough gambling on this ship for a while." The commander replied quietly, still replaying his speech to the crew in his mind. He hadn't been ready for their overwhelming and unanimous support to disobey the Council and go after Saren.  
"This really is it, huh?" Joker asked, not expecting an answer judging by the more solemn note to his voice, "We've got to come the victors or there won't be anything to come back to. So I suggest you have some fun while you can. I'll let you know when it's time to be serious."  
"The commander took his leave of the cockpit, watching all of the crew in the CIC diligently at work to ensure they weren't followed or prepping for the big fight at Ilos. Down on the crew deck Garrus, Wrex, Kaidan, Ash, and Brandon were all sitting around the table, looking at a holographic map of the planet provided by Shepard thanks to the details pulled from his visions.  
"So we're going to be searching for a Prothean artifact on a planet-wide ruin while racing Saren and his army of geth to find it? Not the strangest thing we've done. That one goes to the space cow that stole all of the commander's money." Brandon commented, spinning the hologlobe with a swipe of his hand.  
"That was kind of funny, honestly. Now quit spinning it. We've got work to do." Ash berated him before she stopped the spinning display, and started marking points on the planet for possible sites to search.  
"Maybe we should call in some big guns. Rain some rubble down on Saren's ugly head." Garrus suggested, pointing out that most of the ruins were irregular skyscrapers.  
"Considering the way you look, I don't think you should be throwing stones." Wrex commented, smirking while Garrus scowled and the others had a quiet chuckle.  
"Plus there are no big guns we can call in. We've gone rogue. Or did you forget?" Kaidan inquired of Garrus.  
"Personally, I'm hoping that we get to stay rogue after we save the galaxy," Brandon remarked, leaning back with his arms stretched to their limits, "I've always wondered how it would go to be a vigilante."  
Shepard decided now was a good time to announce his presence. "Did you forget that we're still Alliance soldiers in your excitement? Or are you just keeping your mind off of the court-martial we're going to get after they pin the awards on us?"  
The human squad members looked at the commander, a mix of unease and relief rolling through them at the commander's playful banter. Brandon was the first and only one to come up with a response. "You know me, mouthy optimism is the only way to keep moving towards the end of this kind of adventure."  
"In that case, spread your good cheer around to the rest of the crew. I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me." Shepard turned away from his group of friends, and entered the captain's private room.  
"***************************ME: The Gift***********************************************  
"Shepard." The commander looked over from his spot on his bed to see Liara standing there, her arms behind her back.  
""Liara…" Shepard practically leapt up, resisting the urge to run and sweep her into a hug. With all the stress of what was to come on his shoulders, he wanted to hold the woman he loved in his arms.  
They walked towards each other, not wasting words as their lips collided.  
"*********************************ME: The Gift*****************************************  
The squad members all stood together near their equipment lockers, checking over their equipment in preparation for the assault on Ilos. An irregular thumping from the ceiling above them made them all look up.  
"What the hell is the racket?" Ash asked instinctively pointing her assault rifle up in the direction of the noise.  
"Sounds like it's coming from the commander's private room." Garrus offered up, noticing that Shepard's girlfriend, the asari doctor, was absent. He had a sneaking suspicion of what the noise was but he wasn't going to say anything with this group of people around him.  
Brandon didn't bother to look up from his paired shotguns before replying, inspecting their internal systems with a critical eye. "Shepard's busy trying to make me an uncle. Which means we should just make sure we're ready for the real problem at hand."  
Everyone turned to stare at Brandon in utter shock from the unnaturally casual response. "Did you just say he's…?" The others besides Wrex chorused, while the krogan only chuckled deep in the back of his throat.  
"Yes, now let's focus on something else before we start planning shower gifts." He wittily told them, making everyone ease up.  
"*********************************ME: The Gift*****************************************  
"Bridge to Shepard. We are five minutes out from the Mu Relay." Joker's voice rang out over the private intercom, making the commander stir from his spot in Liara's arms. He looked at her, both of them now awake thanks to the pilot's announcement.  
"Go." Liara told him, slipping her arms from him so they could both get dressed and ready for mission.

On the bridge, most of the squad was gathered and waiting for Shepard and Liara when they got there.  
"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara asked once she had stepped into the circle eagerly watching Joker's hand maneuvering across the controls.  
"Stealth systems engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't spot us." Joker replied, easing some tension from the air.  
"Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface." Pressly told them, joining the council in the front of the ship.  
"You heard him Joker. Lock in those coordinates and take us down." Shepard ordered.  
"It's no good Commander, the nearest landing zone is two klicks away." The XO replied.  
"That's not good enough, find us somewhere closer!" Brandon countered with.  
"There isn't one!" Came Pressly's aggravated reply.  
"Drop us in the Mako." Shepard decided, knowing that the monument to punishment the vehicle was would be able to handle it.  
"You would need at least a hundred meters of open space for a drop like that. The closest I can find to Saren is twenty." Pressly responded, searching his map of the planet for anything that would fit the bill.  
"Keep looking!" Ash barked out, the stress of the coming fight driving everyone's blood pressure through the roof. _Unnatural increase in blood pressure. Suggested responses to situation are..._  
"There isn't any other landing zone!"  
"The descent angle's too steep." Tali pointed out, worried that they would actually try something that reckless.  
"It's our only option." Brandon chimed in, looking at everyone else. _Preventative dopamine release effective in countering cortisol increase. Suggested response: Relax._  
"It's not an option! It's too dangerous and we don't…" Kaidan started to reply before Joker cut him off.  
"I can do it."  
"Joker?" The commander looked at the ace pilot.  
"I can do it."  
"Gear up and head down to the Mako. Joker, drop us right on top of that bastard." Shepard said.  
"************************ME: The Gift*****************************************  
When the commander had retrieved his gear and made it to the cargo hold where the Mako was stored, he was surprised to see only two squad members waiting for him: Brandon and Liara.  
"Where are the others?" He asked, slightly unsure of the situation.  
Brandon smiled, "We already decided who you were taking with you beforehand. I'm coming because you need someone with enough tech savvy to deal with the geth and still be soldier enough to keep you from getting creamed."  
"Then why not Garrus or Kaidan or even Tali?"  
"Garrus is a sniper, which makes him ineffective in the close quarters we're going to be in at the ruins. Kaidan's migraines have flared up. And do you even think I would let Tali go down there without risking my own neck first?"  
Looking from his brother to his girlfriend and then back, he inquired. "And Liara is here because…?"  
"Because there's no way I'm going to miss this opportunity or be so far from you at such an important time." Liara calmly replied before ducking into the Mako.  
The two brothers shared a look before they followed suit.  
"********************************ME: The Gift************************************  
Joker dove through the atmosphere, his aim on point for the Mako drop. Saren wouldn't know what hit him.  
"*************************************ME: The Gift*******************************  
Once the Mako had landed and the squad had gotten out, they realized that Saren had locked the bunker doors.  
"We have to get inside this bunker before Saren finds the Conduit." Liara stated, pointing out the obvious next step. "And there is no way we're getting past this door with brute force."  
Brandon activated his omni-tool, searching for anything that could help them. "Saren opened it, so there must be a way for us to do the same. It could be a security override or secondary passage or something. We need to start checking this complex."  
"We will have to find it and make sure it actually can override the doors first."  
Brandon's omni-tool pinged, updating their maps with a possible location for a security override station.  
They started to move away from the bunker and towards the location when Brandon felt it.  
 _Geth network detected, enemy hacking attempts have breached several firewalls. Remote access has been enabled._ The robotic voice in his head told him _. Activating stored levo-neurotoxins and release triggers. Chance of injury to Gift specimen: minimal. Prepare to be captured._

"Get back!" Brandon shouted as his skin started to crawl then release clouds of thick mist from between his armor's plating.  
"What the hell?" Shepard asked as he and Liara backed away.  
"Geth hacked my implants. Don't breathe the mist, it's a neurotoxin!" Brandon stumbled away from them, barely able to see own feet in the thick and fatal clouds. "I've got to counter hack them if I want it to stop so buy me time." He activated his implanted omni-tool, knowing from months of practice what he needed to do.  
Shepard and Liara were taken aback but they couldn't stay frozen for long. Several geth troopers had spotted them and were advancing quickly. They activated their helmets, sealing them against the atmosphere in case the wind blew the toxin in their direction.  
Shepard opened fire with his assault rifle, scattering the advancing enemies while Liara activated her biotics and started to toss them around with Lifts, Singularities, and Throws.  
When all but one of the troopers was destroyed, Shepard watched in amazement as it dropped its gun and raised its arms in surrender.  
"Thanks for the cover." Brandon stated, stepping out from his hiding spot behind them. His omni-tool was active and he wasn't generating the deadly mist anymore.  
"I'm guessing this is your doing?" Shepard motioned to the surrendering geth.  
"Yeah, thanks for not destroying it. I've got a data spike running through it to pick up as much information as I can since they somehow knew how to hack past my defenses. Even if they made me like this." The omni-tool chimed and the geth self-destructed simultaneously. They didn't bother to check the geth while Brandon read the siphoned data.  
He sunk to his knees, muttering to himself."No, no, no, no, no, no…."  
"What is it?" Liara asked while Shepard continued to sweep the area for any more geth forces.  
"According to this, The Gift is meant to be a countermeasure to organics. I'm supposed to be a traitorous biological weapon of mass destruction."

* * *

 **Part One is done. They've landed on Ilos and now one mystery has been solved about Brandon.**


	10. Chapter 10

**First off, sorry this was planned to come out at the beginning of August and well... stuff happened. I'll save the story and let you get your long-awaited chapter.**

* * *

Liara managed to pull Brandon to his feet just in time for Shepard to catch sight of some incoming geth. He opened fire while Liara led the emotionally devastated engineer to the relative safety of a pillar.

"I'm nothing but a weapon." Brandon whispered, bullets churning up dust as they struck the hiding spot. Liara did her best to keep the attacking geth away from him while Shepard charged in at the sight of a geth quadruped.

Shepard dodged under an explosive shot from the quadruped, turning his back into the cover of a small wall.

"I could use some help over here!" He shouted, looking back at a supporting Liara and an inactive Brandon. "Give me an Overload, ASAP!"

"Got it." The response was so soft that Shepard only heard it thanks to the squad radio. He saw the telltale glow of an active omni-tool, then felt the shift. Electricity crackled in the dry air, before detonating the quadruped's shields with an explosive _CRACK!_ Smaller geth nearby exploded under the electromagnetic forces while Shepard could have sworn he could taste fillings he didn't even have.

Then the quadruped stumbled, its legs damaged by the explosive loss of its shields. Seeing the opportunity, Shepard tore into its now vulnerable chassis with his entire might. The bullets tore through the servos controlling its legs, forcing it to the ground with a crashing thud. Liara used the opening created the explosive Overload and Shepard's bullets to throw in a Warp, aimed perfectly at its downed head. The armor collapsed and shifted under the biotic stresses of the attack, before the entire quadruped detonated. With the geth mech destroyed, there were no enemies within range of their sensors which left them with some time to regroup.

"Satisfied?" The sarcastic question could only have one source on this battlefield, making it easy for Shepard to know whose shoulder to punch. But unlike a normal exchange, Brandon simply took the hit without a sound before falling in step with the Commander.

"That was… quite effective. Did you upgrade your omni-tool?" Liara asked Brandon. His eyes flicked over to her before returning to the ground at his feet.

"A weapon should always perform at its best. I temporarily deactivated the regulator on my omni-tool to increase the Overoad's charge to deprive the quadruped of its shields and neutralize its supporting infantry units." He replied, his tone unnaturally even.

"That was dangerous. If you had been wrong… if you're aim had been off…" Shepard started to scold him only to be cut off by the look in Brandon's eyes. The sheer deadness in them told the whole story.

"The Overload would have backfired, sending enough volts through me to simultaneously stop all heart and brain function. But since I wasn't, it's nothing to worry about." Brandon replied, his voice still flat as he trudged up the next ridge.

* * *

Shepard spotted the geth clustered in the small plaza to their right at the same time they spotted the squad. The three took cover from the initial barrage of fire behind a pile of rubble.

"How many?" Shepard questioned Brandon, who was looking at his omni-tool with an unreadable expression.

"Twenty in the plaza and a patrol arriving in two minutes from the northwest." He replied, retrieving his two shotguns.

"So they've got us pinned and flanked."

"Nintey seconds to enemy reinforcements from a patrolling group."

"Dammit!" Shepard started to think, trying to come up with a plan.

"Seventy seconds." Brandon informed the commander, firing a Sabotage into the plaza to alleviate some of the enemy fire.

Liara looked at her own weapons, and spotted something round and metallic and tossed it to the commander. "Shepard!"

"Forty seconds!" Shepard looked at what Liara had given him, and turned to Brandon.

"Catch and pull!" He shouted as the Sabotage wore off, letting the enemy fire return to its full force.

"Twenty seconds!" Shepard threw himself over their protective cover, activating his armor's Shield Boost to keep himself from dying under the concentrated fire. He opened fire, drawing all the attention he could to himself.

"Liara, Singularity when they come into view!" Brandon followed behind Shepard, one hand fiddling with the tech mine from Liara and the other reaching for his own omni-tool.

Liara readied her biotics for the incoming attack as Shepard and Brandon drew closer the geth waiting in the plaza.

"Contact!"

In that moment, several things happened. The geth patrol, alerted to the presence of enemies by Shepard's and Brandon's brazen charge, were unprepared for Liara's Singularity to land in the center of their group and instantly crush them into a pile of scrap. Brandon planted his feet, his hands coming together like a baseball pitcher before heaving two mines into the heart of the enemies clustered in the plaza. Shepard felt his Shield Boost give out and switched on his Immunity in preparation for the final part of his plan.

The tech mines detonated together, triggering a double Overload. All the geth in the plaza froze for a fraction of a second as inch-thick bolts of electricity linked them together before causing them to explode all around Shepard. The commander disappeared into the ensuing fireball, obscuring the rest of the squad's view of him.

"Shepard, if you still have eardrums, please give us an answer!" Brandon shouted from the edge of the smoking plaza into the dissipating grayness.

"I might still have them…" Shepard commented as he walked out of the plaza towards Liara and Brandon, "but you yelling your head off might break them." He pretended to clean something out of his ears to emphasize his point.

Liara and Brandon shared a look of confusion and paused to let Shepard's joke sink in, before they started to laugh in relief. Shepard could only smile as he some of the cheer return to Brandon. He wasn't planning on letting him get lost in his own self-pity.

"C'mon now, there's the elevator into the security bunker." Shepard pointed behind them as he walked between them.

* * *

The ride to the bottom level of the bunker seemed to take forever as they stood in silence, each of them habitually checking their equipment and muttering questions about the elevator's source of power.

When the elevator stopped, they stepped off into the darkened bunker and were met by irregular shadows. They realized the shadows were deactivated geth Armatures, causing them to race back behind the elevator for cover. Once they realized that the Armatures were deactivated, they noticed that a large group of geth at the far end of the bunker.

"They haven't registered that we're here yet. Maybe we can get the drop on them." Brandon suggested, mentally planning a serpentine path around the Armatures.

"Won't work. They have a Prime unit and several Juggernauts. We need to come up with something to get past them." Shepard responded, eyeing the backs of the oversized geth units while trying to decide if he could get through their shields before his assault rifle overheated.

Liara focused her own mental plans, and recognized the panels near the Armatures. "Brandon do you have any hacking units on you?"

Brandon looked at Liara, then at the consoles before pulling out two small devices. "I see."

Shepard was at a loss as to what they were discussing. "Catch." Shepard turned and caught the device without thinking about it. He looked at it and tried to look at the two of them, only to see they had advanced to the nearest Armature stations. Not wanting to be left behind, Shepard stealthily booked it to Liara's side. He arrived just in time for her to finish planting the device and turn to the other saboteur with a thumb's up.

He nodded and pressed a button on the device, while Liara did the same and Shepard did his best to be prepared for whatever was about to happen. He wasn't prepared for the Armatures to buzz into action, their weaponized heads swiveling to face the now-reacting geth at the other end of the bunker.

The startled geth turned in time for the Armatures to advance towards them, resisting any attempt to counteract the invasive programs driving the Armatures toward their former allies.

Shepard looked at his own device and the two remaining inactive Armatures before running to one of them with the hacking module primed. He slammed it into the console and felt some relief as his joined the fray as the first Armature fell, but not before it took several of the enemy geth with it. Now in the prime position to finish off the hostile geth, Shepard joined the Armatures with a blast of gunfire. Soon enough the enemy geth were destroyed and the two surviving Armatures self-destructed, leaving the squad alone in the bunker.

"So…" Shepard and Liara turned to a musing Brandon as he circled the remaining Armature, still intact despite the intense battle that had happened mere feet from it. "Can I…?"

"No." Shepard vetoed the idea before he could say it.

"But…"

"No."

"That's hardly fair."

"We're a little busy right now. So just tell us where the console is already."

"It's up in the control station. I'm staying here though." Brandon pointed to a slight ramp before plunking himself down on the ground to wait.

Liara studied the dejected younger brother, "You're not going to at least try and look at the Prothean technology? I thought you would."

"I'm not a historian, I fix things. And if it's working then I'm not needed. I'll just get the closer elevator running." He confirmed before pointing to the ramp again. "And aren't we on a time crunch?"

After deciding it wasn't worth their time to put up with Brandon's spoiled brat impression, Shepard and Liara hurried to the console in the upper section of the security bunker. Once they managed to find the functioning console and shut off the lockdown to the archives, the two turned to leave.

"Too late…Warning came… too late…" A voice spoke through static. Shepard and Liara turned to face the voice, revealing a badly damaged hologram.

"I wonder what it's saying. The last broadcast of the Protheans could be invaluable. They could have some insight into fighting the Reapers." Liara mused as Shepard studied the damaged console.

"It's a warning. Like the beacons." Shepard replied automatically.

"You can understand it? Did the Cipher give you an understanding of their language?" Liara questioned as the hologram shut down. They heard the heavy thunk of the elevator doors below them sliding open. When they made it down to it, Brandon was standing there, patiently waiting for them. Shepard could have sworn he saw the gleam of something sticking out of an armor compartment on Brandon, but banished the thought as they stepped into the elevator together.

Once they made it back to the surface near the archives, they hurried towards the open doors, cleanly approaching Saren's trail.

"Since I can't ride an Armature into battle, why don't we take the brick on wheels into the mystery building?" Brandon suggested before hauling himself inside the Mako. Liara and Shepard shared a quick look before following, hoping that they could catch up to Saren with his lead.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone! Long time, no read! Many apologies for delaying this story's finale, so I'll save you the explanation and let you go straight to the action!**

* * *

Shepard drove without a care for the enemies standing between him and his goal, bypassing them with both well- and ill-timed bursts from the Mako's jet lifts.

"I know we're hurrying and all that, but…" Brandon stifled a nauseated moan before continuing, "It won't do us any good if we can't stand up after we get out of the Mako."

"Agreed." Liara commented from the passenger seat, doing her best to focus on the horizon.

Shepard only grunted, jerking the Mako around another turn with abandon. He reached a straightaway, maxing the Mako's acceleration before slamming on the brakes at the sight of an immense energy shield blocking the entire corridor.

"I don't think we can shoot through that." Brandon commented, looking out of the turret's scope.

"Perhaps it's a trap of Saren's?" Liara inquired, eyes scanning for any geth nearby.

"I don't think this is Saren's." Shepard responded, unbuckling himself and making his way to the Mako's hatch.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" Brandon hollered before dropping out of the turret to follow Shepard. Liara wordlessly followed the two of them out of the armored vehicle.

Shepard took a second before hurrying down a nearby hallway, before waiting in an elevator car for the other two to catch up. Once they were inside the elevator, he pressed the button and they began to descend.

"I have studied Protheans for decades but I have not felt such a sense of foreboding from any place as much as here." Liara mentioned, her hand on her pistol.

"Who knows, maybe we'll find a real Prothean at the end of this and he can tell us what the Conduit is and where to take it." Brandon suggested, trying to lighten the mood despite his own internal struggles.

When the elevator lurched to a stop, the squad turned to find themselves looking at a single walkway with a single terminal waiting for them at the end. They approached it slowly, wary of any possible ambushes. When they got closer, an orange glow emitted from the terminal and resolved into a fragmented image of a VI.

"You are not Prothean, but you are not machine either. This eventuality was one of many eventualities expected. This is why we sent our warning message through the beacons." It told them.

Brandon whistled, "This is one seriously damaged VI. Wonder how it survived."

"I do not detect the taint of indoctrination upon any of you. Despite the amount of machinery within your flesh." Brandon unconsciously flinched at the final comment that was clearly directed to him. It continued, "Unlike the other one who passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope."

"This is incredible," Liara's excitement boiled over, "An actual Prothean VI and I can understand it!"

"Less geeking out if you could Doc." Brandon muttered, shifting around the edge of the VI to inspect the terminal behind it. He could make out some kind of markings on it, but he couldn't place the written language that it likely was.

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived at this facility. I have translated my output into a format you will comprehend. I am Vigil," the VI introduced itself finally, "You are safe here, for the moment. But that is likely to change. Soon, nowhere will be safe."

"Are you some kind of artificial intelligence program?" Shepard questioned, reminded of the myriad of encounters that they had had with similar programs and their often deadly results.

"I am an advanced non-organic analysis system with personality imprints of Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Ilos research facility." Vigil explained before settling back in what Shepard guessed was an expression of patience.

"Why did you bring here?" Shepard decided to ask, certain that Vigil was the one who had created the shield.

"You must break the cycle that has continued for millions of years. But to stop it, you must understand the mistakes that we made. The Citadel is the heart of your civilization and the seat of your government. As it was with us, and has it been for every civilization before us. But the Citadel is a trap. The station is an enormous mass relay. One that links to dark space, where the Reapers wait. When the Citadel relay activates, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will be destroyed."

"Which means the Reapers will be able to take the Council and the entire Citadel fleet in a single surprise attack." Shepard barely kept the panic out of his voice at the thought of the annihilation that would stem from the single attack.

"That was our fate. Our leaders were dead before we knew we were under attack. The Reapers took control of the mass relays through the Citadel and isolated us. Over the next decades, they systematically obliterated our people. World by world, system by system, they methodically wiped us out."

"You said you brought me here for a reason. What was it?" Shepard cut off Vigil's continued explanation, not wanting Saren to get much further ahead than he already was.

"The Conduit is the key. Before the Reapers attacked, we were on the cusp of unlocking the mass relay technology. Ilos was a research facility that was tasked with creating a miniature mass relay. One that connected directly to the Citadel: The hub of the relay network."

"The Conduit is not a weapon. It is a back door onto the Citadel!" Liara exclaimed at the revelation.

"What happened next?" Shepard inquired, wondering why they hadn't succeeded if the Conduit was here and working.

"The facility went dark: We cut off all communications and the staff were put into cryogenic sleep to preserve resources. I was programmed to monitor the facility and wake the staff when the danger had passed. But the genocide of a species is a long, slow process. Years passed. Decades, centuries. The Reapers persisted. My energy reserves dwindled."

"You could have fought!" Shepard half-shouted, painful memories flaring in the back of his mind. Elysium, Mindoir, the Thorian.

"We only measured a few hundred against a galactic invasion fleet. The best option was to remain hidden. I began to disable the life-support of non-essential staff to conserve power. Eventually, only the top scientists were left and were in danger of failing when the Reapers finally retreated back through the Citadel relay."

"There were hundreds of stasis pods out there! You just shut them down? You killed them?" Liara vehemently interrogated Vigil, anger nearly bringing tears to her eyes at the loss.

"You were programmed to protect them, not kill them!" Shepard agreed with his squad, denouncing Vigil's actions.

"My actions were a result of contingency programming entered on my creation." Vigil stoicly replied, ignorant of the hostility emanating from the three organic residents of its chamber.

"Cold bastard! I doubt they told anyone that they were going to be sacrificed like that!" Brandon yelled. He hated machines because they treated life as a mere factor for their calculations.

"I saved key personnel." Vigil continued to defend its actions. "My actions are the only reason there is any hope. When the researchers awoke, they realized that the Protheans as a species were doomed. So they devoted themselves to stopping the cycle, and they knew the keepers were the key."

"Aren't they under the control of the Reapers?" Shepard questioned how the strange bug-like beings could be so important.

"They are under the control of the Citadel. A signal is sent to the Citadel to have the keepers activate the relay. After decades of feverish study, they determined a way to change that signal. The scientists traveled to the Citadel via the Conduit and applied the necessary changes. When Sovereign sent the signal this time, the keepers ignored it." Vigil explained.

"And if Saren gets to the Citadel he can force the relay to activate the relay using Sovereign." Shepard inferred.

"Sovereign will override the Citadel's systems and manually open the relay. And the cycle of extinction will begin again."

"Is there any way that we can stop it?"

"In my console there is a copy of data that you should take with you. When you get to the Citadel, plug it into the master control unit and it will corrupt the Citadel's secrutiy protocols and give you temporary control over the station. It might give you a chance against Sovereign."

"Hang on, hang on." Brandon requested from his position next to Vigil's console. "Where did they hide this master control unit? I've been all over the Citadel and I haven't seen anything that looks like a master control unit."

"Through the Conduit. Follow Saren and he will lead you to your destination." Vigil answered, as if it wasn't sure of the answer for itself.

"That's useful." Sarcasm still came easy to Brandon despite the grave situation.

"Let's move. Saren already has enough of a head-start." Shepard turned to leave, knowing his silent command for Brandon to grab the data file from Vigil was already being followed.

"Wait." Liara's hand grabbed his, making him pause. "This is the only opportunity we may ever get. Vigil is already close to falling apart and I doubt we will get a chance to return here before he completely disintegrates."

Looking back at the pleading sadness in Liara, Shepard's sigh gave into her curiosity. "Just be quick."

"Beat you both to it." Brandon told them as he stepped through Vigil's projection. "Already copied all the information I could from his data banks. Thanks for that, Vigil."

Liara's eyes sparkled with the joy of a researcher being promised a new find while Shepard let a slight wave of relief run over him. Brandon could be annoying, but his need for information of any kind came in handy in moments like this.

"Then we're off."

"The one you call Saren has yet to reach the Conduit. There is still hope. If you reach the Conduit quickly." Vigil informed them as they turned to head back to the elevator. They made their way back to the Mako in relative silence, each buoyed by the Prothean Vi's final words of encouragement.

"Let's take him down." Shepard told them in the moment before he revved the Mako's engine to full.

* * *

 _In the Serpent Nebula, Citadel airspace…._

In a single moment, hundreds of geth warships arrived, pouring through the relay to begin their attack on the Citadel. Sovereign soon appeared behind them, ready to attack the organics and summon his fellow Reapers through the Citadel relay.

The Citadel fleet found themselves broadsided by the attack, losing several turian battleships in a matter of seconds before fleet could respond. The commander of the _Destiny Ascension,_ flagship of the Citadel fleet ordered the arms of the Citadel to close, only to be dismayed by the news that the system was failing to activate.

* * *

"Hold tight!" Shepard ordered his two squadmates, throwing the Mako around the final turn before the Conduit. Even as they raced towards it, the three couldn't help but appreciate its beauty. Nearly one-hundred feet tall and lit by the blue glow of the contained mass effect, it stood as a beacon of hope. The Mako came under fire from dozens of geth, bipedals and quadrupeds alike. As the Mako's shields began to fail, Shepard drove through the hail of fire, praying that the armor held out as they made it to the Conduit.

In a single brilliant flash, the squad and the damaged Mako were transported.

* * *

The Mako crash landed in the Presidium, its weight crushing a pair of geth guards before the squad crawled out of the belly hatch.

Brandon swallowed heavily, suppressing his desire to vomit. "I'm not going through that again. At elast not without spaceship-quality inertial dampeners."

"Less talking, more shooting." Shepard commented as several Husk spikes dropped their vicious totems. Liara crushed one with a Warp, while Brandon blew two away with his shotguns, and Shepard finished off the rest with his assault rifle. They turned and noticed that the signs of battle led straight to the Council's tower elevator.

"Don't even say it." Shepard commented as they stepped into the elevator. He didn't have to turn around to see the smugness on Brandon's face.

* * *

 _Council's Chamber…_

Saren blew away another of the useless bugs that had failed to follow Sovereign's signal. Without anything interfering. He activated the master control unit, forcing the arms to close as Sovereign blasted into the gap while the Citadel's fleet were trapped outside, totally shut-out. Sovereign quickly descended onto the outstretched tower, docking and taking control of the system.

* * *

The elevator stopped with a jolt.

"Saren's locked the elevators. Suit up- we're going outside!" Shepard ordered, activating his helmet. The others didn't argue.

Shepard shot out the elevator's wall, then took his first step across the interior of the Citadel's arms. He caught sight of Sovereign attached to the end of the tower, conjuring up weird images from extranet searches he wished he could forget. They ran next to the elevator shafts, stopping to fight as dozens of geth arrived via elevator cars. Once they realized that Saren had anticipated this tactic, they changed over to climbing along the nearby maintenance channels.

"What the hell? How many of these things are there?" Brandon questioned when more geth poured out of nowhere, swarming straight towards the squad. He opened fire with his shotguns and omni-tool tearing apart shields so Shepard's assault rifle could tear through the undefended bodies.

"Krogan charging! Liara, Lift!" Shepard ordered as he caught sight of the mercenary moving in. With a blaze of biotics the Krogan was launched into the void of space overhead. "Keep moving! We can't let them activate the relay!" Shepard brazenly charged into the fight, leading the way through the maze with an intuitive sense and clear goal ahead.

"Roger!" The other replied, following behind him. As they rounded a corner near some Citadel defense cannons, a geth dropship noticed them and swooped low to drop off more troops and add its fire to hailstorm raining down on them.

With little thought, Brandon hacked into the cannons to activate one of them. It opened fire on the geth dropship, but it clearly wasn't enough.

"We'll cover you." Shepard told him, reading the situation for what it was. He and Liara kept up a stream of physical and biotic attacks to keep the infantry distracted while Brandon made a sprint to the next cannon, adding its fire to the fight for the skies. When he caught sight of a third turret not far beyond the one he was at, Brandon didn't hesitate. He threw a variety of tech mines into the fray before running to the third cannon and activating it. Within a matter of seconds all of the cannons had destroyed the dropship under their relentless fire, and the troops it had dropped off were all defeated by Shepard and Liara.

"Good work." Shepard said when Brandon regrouped with them. They continued to press forward, killing more geth and krogan mercenaries as they went until they reached a large area where four geth turrets could be seen covering the area with heavy explosive rounds.

"Move fast and keep low." Shepard advised them. "We're going to each go a different route. Liara, you take the right since it's mostly trenches to give you cover. Brandon take the left side since it's the highest and will give you a vantage point to use your Engineer skills. I'm taking the middle to draw their attention. On my mark."

The two split off, trusting Shepard's plan.

"Go!" He ordered, jumping over a slight rise to punch a geth into the air. To his right he heard the tell-tale sound of biotics destroying electronics and to his left he heard the rapid-fire report of Brandon's twin shotguns blasting through pre-built shields to open up new lanes of movement.

The first turret to notice Shepard was on the left, swiveling to attack him when a bolt of lightning seemed to strike it. The mechanisms shuddered for a moment before it exploded. Shepard heard a whoop of joy from Brandon before he continued forward, wary of the next turret on his right side. The same process occurred, only for the turret to be crushed under Liara's Warp.

Shepard felt the presence of his squadmates behind him as he approached the third turret, located directly in their path ahead. He activated his assault rifle' Overkill, making it spew bullets like a Gatling gun to destroy the third turret under the concentrated fire. Still feeling the Overkill's effects, Shepard turned the assault rifle in the direction of the fourth turret, far beyond their position. It was met by a thunderous explosion that shook the ground they stood on, proof of the turret's elimination.

With all of the geth eliminated, they hurried forward and turned down a side passage near the elevator shafts. When they found the emergency door, they hesitated long enough to realize they had no idea of what was waiting for them before they jumped in, unafraid of their fates.

Inside the Council's chamber, Shepard led the squad around the fountain.

"Enemies incoming!" Brandon warned as they reached the stairs, opening fire on the geth positioned there. It took them only a few seconds to slay the geth and continue forward, and reach the atrium's courtyard. By the time they had pushed through the meager defenses Saren had left there, the squad was ready for Saren.

They ran forward to confront Saren, only to have the turian jump down and land on his hover platform. When he rose back into view, Saren opened fire with an explosive attack that sent the squad scrambling for cover, separating Sheaprd from the others.

"I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time, Shepard." Saren cajoled him.

"In time for what?"

"The final confrontation. We both knew that this was how it was going to end." Saren hovered closer. "You've lost, you know that, don't you? In a few minutes Sovereign will have full control over the Citadel's systems. The relay will open. And the Reapers will return."

"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." Shepard's eyes found Liara and Brandon's, acknowledging they were waiting for his signal to attack.

"You survived our encounter on Virmire. But I've changed since then. Improved. Sovereign has…. upgraded me."

"You let Sovereign implant you? Are you insane?"

"I suppose I should thank you Shepard. After Virmire, I couldn't stop thinking about what you said. About Sovereign manipulating me. About indoctrination. The doubts began to eat away at me, and Sovereign sensed my hesitation. I was implanted to strengthen my resolve. And now my doubts are gone. I believe in Sovereign completely. I understand that the Reapers need organics. Join us and Sovereign will have a place for you too."

"Sovereign's controlling you through those implants! Don't you see that?"

"Just like the geth tried to do with me." Brandon whispered, the words only heard by Liara.

"The relationship is symbiotic. Organic and machine intertwined, a union of flesh and steel. The strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither. I am a vision of the future, Shepard. The evolution of all organic life. This is our destiny. Join Sovereign and experience a true rebirth!"

"Shepard! Tell him what he needs to know!" Liara called out to him, reminding him of all their one chance.

Shepard let his resolve build before giving his reply. "Sovereign hasn't won yet. I can stop it from taking control of the station! Step aside and the invasion will never happen!"

"We can't stop it! Not forever! You saw the visions." Saren accused Shepard, "You saw what happened to the Protheans. The Reapers are too powerful."

"Some part of you must still realize that this is wrong. You can fight this!" Shepard appealed to the last remnants of Saren's good intentions.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe there still is a chance for..." Saren's words were cut off by a groan of pain. He began to twist and thrash before he regained control. "The implants… Sovereign is too strong. I'm sorry. It's too late for me."

"It's not over yet!" Shepard rolled out of his hiding spot, standing up to appeal to Saren again. "You can still redeem yourself!"

Saren's eyes met Shepard's, but the commander could only see resignation in the former Spectre. "Goodbye, Shepard. Thank you." Saren pulled out a pistol, pointing it up under his own chin before pulling the trigger. His body lurched and the platform swerved before crashing into the garden below them.

"Dammit." Shepard cursed his own failure, running forward to the control panel while Brandon and Liara followed.

Activating his omni-tool to pass on the data file, Brandon noticed the disappointment on Shepard's face. "We can't save everyone, but we still have more to save."

Shepard's omni-tool chirped, signaling its success. "The data file worked. I've got control of all systems."

"I suggest we unlock the arms so Sovereign doesn't get a chance to win. Just a suggestion!" Brandon's voice shifted a little higher, likely feeling the pressure of the entire galaxy hanging in the balance.

"See if you can open a communications channel. Joker might have the rest of the fleet ready." Liara suggested, managing to be a voice of reason.

This is the Destiny Ascension…" an asari's static-filled voice pleaded, "Main drives offline. Kinetic barriers down 40%. The Council is on board. I repeat, the Council is onboard."

"Normandy to the Citadel. Normandy to the Citadel." Joker's voice rang clear to the squad, "Please tell me that's you, Commnader."

"I'm here Joker." Shepard replied.

"We caught the distress call, Commander. I'm sitting here in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus Fleet. We can save the Ascension. Just unlock the relays around the Citadel and we'll the cavalry in!"

"Are you sure about this Shepard? Human casualties will be very high if you send your fleet in now." Liara pointed out, concerned over Shepard's dilemma.

"Liara, this is bigger than humanity by a long shot. Sovereign is a threat to every organic in the entire galaxy." Brandon countered, letting his business mentality take over. "In terms of risk and reward, the option's pretty clear Commander."

"The Council must be sacrificed for the greater good. Don't waste your reinforcements. Hold them back until the Citadel arms open up. Save the human fleet to attack Sovereign."

"Christ on high Liara, I thought I was being cold." Brandon commented, looking at Liara's hardened expression with worry.

"What's the order, Commander! Come in now to save the Ascension or hold back?" Joker questioned, bringing the discussion to its head.

Shepard took a moment to consider his options before his final decision: "Opening the relays now, Joker. We need to save the Ascension—no matter the costs." A hint of melancholy tinged Shepard's last word, the very weight of the lives that he was ordering be sacrificed.

Liara looked down for a second before remarking, "The noble choice. I can only hope it doesn't turn out to be the wrong one."

"That's why he's the boss and not us." Brandon replied, knowing that Shepard's choice was the right one despite everything telling him it wasn't.

* * *

As the Arcturus Fleet arrived, a single order was given by Fifth Fleet Admiral Hackett: "Alliance ships move in—save the _Destiny Ascension_."

With the Normandy leading the charge, Alliance ships engaged the geth surrounding the flagship. It took a matter of minutes for the Alliance ships to crush the geth harrying the ship, but at the cost of several of their own frigates.

" _Destiny Ascension_ , you are all-clear." Joker radioed the damaged ship, assuring them that the battle was over for them. "Repeat—you are all-clear."

Now that the _Ascension_ had been saved, Admiral Hackett began to give new orders: "The Citadel's arms are opening. All ships move in. Concentrate on Sovereign."

* * *

"Make sure he's dead." Shepard ordered Brandon and Liara, mostly to quell the strange feeling in his gut that said this battle wasn't completely won. The two of them shared a look and a nod before dropping down to the lower garden. Brandon took point, leading with his pistols since his shotguns weren't exactly proper for investigating corpses. Liara followed right behind him, wary of any sudden counterattack.

"This is for everyone you screwed over, Saren." Brandon whispered, pointing his pistol at the turian's head before swiftly pulling the trigger. The bullet entered and left the corpse without a fuss, prompting Liara to radio Shepard with a simple confirmation.

All of a sudden red lightning seemed to surge through the chamber above, shaking it so heavily Shepard had a hard time keeping his feet. The lightning arced down into the garden, and then into Saren's corpse. The mass of flesh and machinery twitched and convulsed as the lightning pulled it into the air, making it dance in a macabre waltz to the sound of its own howls. The flesh exploded off the corpse violently, throwing Brandon and Liara back with enough force to stun them. Above them, the extended walkway that Shepard stood on shook for a second before giving out and spilling him down into the garden not far from his teammates. Recovering their senses, the three looked in disgust at the mockery of Saren that stood in front of them, machinery forming a skeletal turian that burned them with red-tinted gaze filled with malice. Without hesitation on its part, the former corpse leapt away.

Shepard and the quad all reached for their weapons, doing their best to keep track of the jumping corpse. It fired out assassination lasers and heavy explosive attacks, not dissimilar to a geth assassin unit. Whenever it paused to aim at them, Brandon fired an Overload to try and strip its shields, only to find it partially effective: it damaged the shields but didn't leave it exposed. Liara added whatever she could with her biotics. Shepard did his best to wear down any remaining shields he could with Overkills, occasionally scratching the body behind the shields. But it wasn't doing nearly enough.

* * *

 _Outside the Citadel, Alliance Fleet…._

Joker wove the Normandy through the Alliance ships pouring their fire onto Sovereign, doing his best to avoid the Reaper's counterattacks.

"Sovereign is too strong- we have to pull back!" One pilot recommended, watching as another ship was destroyed by Sovereign's incredible beam attack.

"Negative," Hackett replied, "This is our only chance! Take that monster down, no matter what the cost!"

* * *

Saren's corpse shuddered to a stop, its pieces barely held together by the remaining wires. A red light engulfed it as the electronics burnt out, signaling its defeat.

"I don't trust you guys to confirm a kill anymore." Shepard deadpanned, looking at the battle-weary members of his team.

Joker was amazed at what his instruments were reading.

"Its shields are down! Now's our chance." He told everyone, flying through the debris field that had formed from the intense fighting.

"Hit it with everything we've got." Hackett ordered.

Dozens of light cruisers and frigates opened fire, hoping to keep its shields from recovering.

Knowing what they really needed, Joker patched himself into the surviving members of small fighter squadrons. "Hard on my flank." He ordered while pulling a perfect 180 degree turn. "We're going in!"

Following the Normandy directly at Sovereign's underbelly, the small fighters tore into the Reaper, causing explosions to run through its hull before the entire ship detonated.

Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, some of the debris was on a collision course for the Council's chambers.

* * *

Shepard looked through the windows of the Council's room on the battlefield, elated to see that Sovereign had been defeated. His eyes widened as he picked up a large-scale movement in their direction.

He turned to the other two and gave as much of a warning as he could, "Go!"

The piece of debris struck the room, throwing everything into chaos.

* * *

A recovery team tore apart the debris piles that clogged the former Council's chambers, desperately searching for any sign of Shepard or his squad.

A technician moved a thick sheet of metal, uncovering a gap in the pile. Brandon lay on his side, gripping his side from what the technician guessed were broken ribs, while Liara sat up, slightly dazed from the act of bioticly protecting the two of them from the debris that should have crushed them.

"Captain Anderson! We've found them! Over here!" The technician yelled, drawing the rest of the recovery team to his find.

The technician set to helping Liara to her feet while Anderson ducked into the space, relieved to see that the two of them had survived the unintended destruction of the area.

"Take it easy, it's over…" Anderson reassured Brandon, who was desperately trying to stand up despite his legs' refusal to cooperate. "You're safe now. Where's the commander? Where's Shepard?"

Brandon could only look at Anderson before casting his eyes to an area behind them that looked like it had been carpet bombed by shrapnel from the debris strike. Fearing the worst, Anderson stood up, trying to catch sight of anything of the commander: his armor, his signature assault rifle, something tangible that told him where his favorite student and hero of the galaxy was.

As the technician and Anderson helped the two injured squad members to the opening, they caught sight of a flash of movement. Disbelief struck them as the moving object began to resolve itself into a human shape. It crested a pile of debris, revealing itself to be Shepard. But even the commander hadn't escaped unscathed. His armor was marred by countless scratches and dust, along with his left arm protectively cradled to his chest, but Shepard stood there, clearly alive with one the largest grins any of them had ever seen.

"Should've known it would take more. Doesn't excuse the dramatic entrance, though." Brandon couldn't help but comment in relief. His brother was still there and he wasn't going to have to explain why he of all people walked away from this chaos.

* * *

 _Later, Presidium…_

"Ambassador. Captain. Commander Shepard." The asari councilor recognized the three humans standing in front of her and her colleagues. "We have gathered here to recognize the enormous contributions of the Alliance forces in the war against Sovereign and the geth.

"Many humans lost their lives in the battle to save the Citadel, brave and courageous soldiers who willingly gave their lives so that we—the Council- might live." The salarian councilor recognized.

"There is no greater sacrifice," the turian councilor shook his head in sadness, "And we share your grief over the tragic loss of so many noble men and women."

"The council also owes you a personal debt, Commander. One that we can never repay." The asari councilor admitted, turning to face Shepard with her full gaze. "You saved not just our lives, but the lives of billions from Sovereign and the Reapers."

"Commander Shepard, your heroic and selfless actions serve as a symbol of everything humanity and the Alliance stand for." The salarian councilor acknowledged.

"And though we cannot bring back those valiant soldiers who gave their lives to save ours, we can honor their memories through our actions." The turian council told the assembled humans. The three stood, waiting for the councilors to finish.

"Humanity has shown it is ready to stand as a defender and protector of the galaxy. You have proved you are worthy to join our ranks and serve beside us on the Citadel Council."

The first one to recover from their shock was Udina, who immediately gave his usual political spin to his words. "Councilor, on behalf of humanity and the Alliance we thank you for this prestigious honor and humbly accept."

"We will need a list of potential candidates to fill humanity's seat on the Council." The salarian councilor replied with, looking at Shepard.

"Given all that has happened, I am sure a recommendation will carry a great deal of weight, Commander. Do you support any particular candidates?" The asari councilor with a slight tilt of her head. But Shepard saw through the move: she wanted to see if he knew what to say to get what he wanted.

A quick look to his left and his right confirmed his thoughts before he spoke his answer. "We need someone with the courage to stand up for what he believes in. Someone like Captain Anderson." He turned to his mentor so he wouldn't have to deal with Udina's annoyed face.

"Him?" the ambassador questioned, "You must be joking. Anderson prefers to let his fists do the talking."

"Only with you Ambassador." Anderson shot a heated look to the politician before returning his focus to the councilors. "Only with you."

"Are you sure about this, Commander? The captain's a soldier, not a politician." Udina spoke, trying to confirm Shepard's selection.

"We've already got too many politicians on the Citadel." Shepard replied, "The captain would be perfect for this job."

"I think it's an inspired choice," the asari councilor cut off any chance of debate on the matter. "The Council would welcome him with open arms, should he accept."

"I'm honored, Councilor," Anderson responded with, letting his more formal speech come forward. "As humanity's representative, I'll do everything in my power to help the Council rebuild."

"Sovereign's defeat marks the beginning of a new era for both humanity and the Council." The turian councilor acknowledged, bowing his head slightly in Shepard's direction.

Taking the time to meet the eyes of all the councilors, Shepard informed them, "Sovereign was only a vanguard. The Reaper fleet is still coming. Hundreds of ships, maybe thousands. And I'm going to find some way to stop them!" He walked off, knowing that he had more challenges awaiting him.

"Shepard's right." Anderson's voice reached the commander even as he left. "Humanity is ready to do its part. United with the rest of the Council, we have the strength to overcome any challenge. When the Reapers come, we must stand side by side. We must fight against them as one. And together, we will drive them back into dark space."

* * *

 _Alliance Docking Station…_

Outside the Normandy, Shepard was surprised to see Brandon sitting on a crate, a pair of crutches nearby with his cast-covered legs dangling over the side.

"So how's it feel to be the galaxy's hero, big brother?" Brandon asked with a slight smile.

Shepard gave his own smile back before replying, "It's not that much different. Though what did you want to talk about that you just had to meet me outside the ship?" He pointed to Brandon's spot away from the Normandy and the crews currently restocking it.

Brandon's grin faltered, slipping into a slight frown. "I'm leaving the crew on medical leave."

"What? But I thought…"

"It's not because of these." Brandon gestured to his legs, "It's because of what happened on Ilos."

Shepard recalled it. The geth hack that overrode Brandon's various implants and turned him into a walking poison factory. "So you think that something like that means you can just leave?" He fixed his younger brother with a look that spoke volumes.

Brandon turned away, not wanting to meet Shepard's eyes. "I'm a danger as long I have them in me. Besides, they might be dangerous now but there are several medical research facilities that want to sample the tech in my implants. So I'm going to let them take them out so they can safely research them and get rid of my problem."

"How long?"

"Ten months, maybe a year. Effective immediately." Brandon managed to face Shepard, but kept his head lowered. His hand found his hair and started to fiddle with it.

"You talk to your girlfriend about you leaving?" Shepard wasn't going to let Brandon skip out on any of his responsibilities.

"Yes, I told Tali. I'm staying here until you guys leave on your next mission, then I'm off to the military research hospital at Arcturus Station." Brandon explained, grabbing both crutches before hopping into a standing position. "Until the next time, right Brother?" He extended a hand to Shepard, hiding his eyes in case he cried.

Shepard looked at the hand before stepping forward and pulling Brandon into a hug. The injured boy reflexively returned it. "Don't do anything stupid without us around. You can barely handle the trouble you get into even when we're here for you."

"Fine." The brothers separated, doing their best to ignore the sentimental moment they had just had.

"Were you part of Joker's recent betting pool, because Anderson pretty much admitted to hitting Udina while we were in that meeting with the Council."

"Then Joker owes me my share of the pot."

 ** _Fin_**

* * *

 **So this marks the official end of this story. Thank you for reading. I do sincerely apologize about taking so long to update with this chapter but real life keeps me busy.**

 **Just so all of you know, I do plan on writing a sequel to this story based on Mass Effect 2's storyline. Be Warned I can't promise when it will appear or how often I will be able to update it.**

 **Anyways, leave a review to let me know what you think.**

 **-Eramis8**


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